


Never Gonna Be Alone

by voiceoftime



Series: The Tale of the Doctor and the Phoenix [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-14 13:15:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 47,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3411965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voiceoftime/pseuds/voiceoftime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Left all alone, the Doctor doesn't know what to do without Rose. Can a similarly broken young girl help him heal? My reworking of Seasons 3 to allow for the Doctor to not be left standing alone in the end.  This is finished, I'm just moving it from one forum to this one.  It should be up completely in a day or two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Please Don't Leave Me

Disclaimer: Please, I don’t even want it. Not if they’re going to give it to Moffat. *walks away with her head held high. then slinks back.* I lied. I want it. Please, please! *breaks down sobbing*

Ch.1: Please Don’t Leave Me

_“Quite right too. And I suppose, if it’s my last chance to say it. Rose Tyler-“_

And that was it. He was out of power and out of time. He stood there in shock as the tears poured down his cheeks. She was gone and he was alone. Forever had ended all too soon.  

He ran his hand over his face to wipe away the tears and started to pull himself together, if only long enough to put the TARDIS in the vortex. Then he could take all the time he needed to grieve by himself.

Suddenly there was a sound and when he turned, there was a young woman laying on the floor his ship. He started to move around the console to get a better look, when she suddenly sat up. She looked around and, spotting him, she quickly turned back around.

“Oh no you don’t you sonofabitch!” she screamed to no one as far as he could tell. “You bring me back!   You bring me back right now!”

The Doctor was growing more and more confused by the moment.

“Who are you?” he asked. “How did you get on my ship?” But she just ignored him.

“I mean it.” she continued to yell. “Bring me back now!” She didn’t seem to notice him all. Suddenly a man appeared behind her. The Doctor almost fell in shock as he looked at his ninth self.

She didn’t seem to notice him at all, she just kept yelling for him to take her back.

“Lily.”

She went quiet as she heard her name. She turned to look at him and for the first time The Doctor saw the tears pouring down her face. She moved to touch him when he shook his head.

“I’m just a hologram.” he told her. “No touch.”

The Doctor cringed as the words he had used not 10 minutes earlier were used by this other version of himself.

“Please don’t do this.” she begged him. “Come through too. We can start over where they’ll never find us. We’ll be safe.”  

“You know I can’t.” he told her sadly. “If I try to come through, the whole thing will collapse.” He shook his head. “No, you’re going to have to go on without me this time.”   He held up a hand to stop her protests. “Please Lily, for once, do as I ask. I only have a few minutes before they find me.”

“What am I supposed to do without you?” she asked him, weakly.

He smiled, “Do what you always do. Be fantastic.”

She chuckled sadly.   They stood in silence for a second before Nine turned his attention to The Doctor.

“I know I have no right to ask this and I know you don’t know us,” he said, “but I don‘t have another option. We’re in a war and we‘re losing. I want her safe where they can’t touch her and another universe is really my option. Please. I’m begging you. Protect her. Keep her safe. Help her to heal.” The Doctor, seeing no other option, nodded. All through this, the girl -Lily- never took her eyes off her doctor.   Seeing that The Doctor was consenting, Nine turned his attention back to her.

“Lily…” he began, but trailed off, not really know what else to say.

She moved so she was standing right in front of him and raised her hand so, if he had been there, it would’ve been resting between his hearts. She looked up at him and saw tears that matched her own in his eyes.

“I love you.” she said, her voice thick with tears. “I always have and I always will. Stay safe, My Doctor.” Her voice broke on the last word, and his hand moved as if to touch her cheek, but he stopped himself just before he could complete the motion.

“Make sure to live.” he told her. “That’s all I can ask of you. My beautiful Lily.” His eyes never left hers. “And never doubt for a second that I loved you.”

And he was gone. She stood still for a moment and then her world dissolved around her.

The Doctor moved quickly to catch her as she fainted. Seeing that she seemed to be unharmed, just overwhelmed, he silently asked the TARDIS to move a room close to the control room so he could lay her down. He made sure she would be comfortable, than left her to sleep.

He slowly made his way down the corridors, thinking of what just happened, till he found himself in the corridor housing not only his room, but the one with the rose carving on the door.   He thought briefly of entering, but quickly dismissed the notion. He once again asked the TARDIS to rearrange the rooms so Rose’s room was hidden away where he could find it, but not where he would have to see it all the time. The pain was just too deep and too fresh.  

He realized that he would not have time enough to properly mourn her, not with his new arrival, and he didn’t want the reminder.   He watched as the door disappeared and slowly continued the short distance to his room. His need for little sleep meant he spent little time here, but it was dark and it was quiet. He moved to his bed and curled up in the pillows. Maybe, if he tried, just for a little bit, he could forget. And then maybe, for that little bit, it wouldn’t hurt.

 


	2. Where Do We Begin?

Disclaimer: Oh please. Because if I owned Doctor Who I’d be writing fan fiction, when I could be putting my valuable time into convincing David Tennant to marry me. Please people.

Ch.2: Where Do We Begin?

Six hours later he finally worked up the strength to leave his sanctuary. Also he figured he should probably find out how his latest guest was doing.

Her appearance answered some of his questions about the remaining cracks. Apparently, while Pete’s World was closed off, the others were still open. He’d need to keep that in mind, but for now his mind turned to the young woman.

There was something about her. Something that his counterpart obviously thought was important enough that he hid her in an alternate reality. But what could it be?   He said they were involved in a war, maybe she was something that could be used against them. Or maybe it was just personal. He was still slightly shocked by what he had heard. A Time Lord admitting he loved a human? Was it just that the race of Time Lords in that reality had been more lax or was it just that his alternate self had been able to admit what he could never say?

He arrived at the room the TARDIS had given her, but when he opened the door, she wasn’t there. He was slightly worried. He had promised his alternate self he’d look after her and six hours later he already didn’t know where she was. He didn’t seem to be good at this whole look after someone else thing.

_Where is she, old girl?_ he asked the TARDIS.

Suddenly a corridor opened next to him. He saw that it led to the kitchen and assumed that must be where she was.

_Thank you._ He told his ship silently.

He walked the corridor and stopped in door way and there she was. He took a moment to see what she really looked like. In the chaos of earlier he hadn’t really taken the time to register much beyond shock. Looking at her now he realized she really was quite beautiful. She was average height,   with black hair so dark it looked blue in the light. She was thin, very thin he realized, like she hadn’t eaten in a while. Her skin was pale and she sat hunched over a cup of tea.

“Any more of that?” he asked her as he came in and sat at the table.

She jumped when he started talking. She looked like she didn’t really believe what she was seeing.   When he saw her eyes, he saw that they were the oddest shade of gray he had ever seen in a human. They looked like the gray of the storm with flecks of gold that almost gave the impression of lightening. Finally she slumped back down in the chair and looked up at the ceiling.

“I really hoped it was a dream.” She told him. “That I’d come in here and he’d come strolling in, kiss me good morning, and launch into a dissertation on where we were going next.” She laughed bitterly to herself. “I guess I should have realized the difference when I didn’t get a response from the TARDIS when I tried to talk to her.”

The Doctor stared. “You could hear the TARDIS?” he asked her, shocked. Who was this girl?

She smiled, “Yeah, ours. She and I were connected. The Doctor said we were bonded.” The smile fell away. “Oh well, gone now.”

“But you’re not a Time Lady. It shouldn’t be possible for you to be bonded to a TARDIS.” He told her, trying to figure out exactly what was going on.

Slowly she reached into her pocket and pulled out a pocket watch. The Doctor stared at in disbelief as she held it up.

“I suppose you know what that is.” She said. “I’ve never opened it which has a lot to do with the story I’m about to tell you. And if you’re anything like him, you’ll take your promise to protect me seriously, so you should know exactly what you’re protecting. I’d get comfortable, though. This is going to take awhile.” With that she launched into her tale.

“My parents were Time Lords in good standing when the Time War broke out. They were on the front lines and they fought at Arcadia and The Blue Swarm and at the Crushing Maw and at the Mouth of the Nightmare Child. Eventually they realized that the Time Lords were not going to win, that the best we could hope for was a stalemate, but that in all probability we were going to lose. That’s when they took me away.  
They came in the middle of the night and stole me away. They took me to Earth and found a family who child had died. They put me in the chameleon arch and made me human. I think they hoped I would live out my life and live to die in my bed. But any way, they left me there with the family and went back to fight. They died when Gallifrey burned.”

She took a deep breath and continued.

“I grew up on Earth, in America, happy, with no idea as to who I was. The only inkling I had was the amazingly, fantastic dreams I had of silver trees in forests of fire. The family they had left me with was kind and good and they gave me everything I needed and the best education I could hope for. I grew up loved and for that I’m thankful. But then my class took a trip to the British Isles.

I’ll never forget that moment. When we arrived in Cardiff, the second we stepped in our hotel, it was locked down and I was told the authorities would like to speak to me. I was understandably confused when I walked into the room and a man in a WWII style outfit greeted me like he had known me forever. He was the one to tell me who I really was.   He told me all my dreams were true. Apparently, when I’d entered Cardiff, every alien detector they had went nuts. The man told me that his name was Jack Harkness and that I would meet a younger version of him sometime in my future and that we would be great friends. I of course thought he was nuts.” she chuckled.

“Many hours and lots of underage drinking later,” she continued, “I started to accept that maybe, _maybe_ , some of this _might_ be true. Then he showed me the Hub. He told me that if I stayed, he’d set me up to meet, as he put it, the most important man I’d ever meet. The only thing was, I had to promise that I wouldn’t tell this man, the man he called The Doctor, that he was there. He said that it would all work itself out, but that I had to follow this one rule. He knew I’d agree of course. He already knew me, which meant I must have kept my promise.

That night, when I called my parents to make up some reason why I needed to stay in Wales, they just said that they this day might one day come and that I should try to keep in touch. That was it. They just let me go. I have never loved them more than I loved them in that moment.   Jack set me up with a flat in London and a job in a store called Henriks. I stayed there for six months. In that time, I got to know a girl named Rose, Rose Tyler. And that was the first person I lost.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I’m gonna end there and continue Lily’s back story next time. I know it’s a lot but please just bare with me. As always, feedback would be appreciated!
> 
> Abbey


	3. So Different and Yet the Same

Disclaimer: By decree of the Shadow Proclamation, I now own Doctor Who and all its affiliates. This means you David Tennant and John Barrowman! Mwahhahhhahhhahhh *cough-cough-cough* I guess I need to work on my evil laugh. What do you mean I can’t have it if I can’t do an evil laugh?!?! Come back here!!!!

Ch.3: So Different and Yet the Same

Lily was so wrapped up in the telling of her story, she didn’t see The Doctor stiffen at the mention of Rose, nor did she see the look of grief that passed over his face when she mentioned her loss. She just continued on with her story.

“When I first started at the shop, Rose was the first person to be nice to me.   Everyone else was much older or much younger, so as the only two 19 year olds, we struck up a quick friendship. Next thing I knew I was hanging out down at the pub with her and Ricky and having dinner with her and her mother. Jack had set me up in the same building, knowing I would meet Rose. Because I was living on my own, or so it seemed, Jackie took me in, made sure I was fed, clothed, stuff like that.   
My cover was that I had come to London to get work as a singer, and I was just working in the shop till I found a steady gig. It meant I could disappear to Cardiff as needed under the guise of looking for gigs and it also meant that I actually got to do gigs.   
Singing is one of the things I love most, so I was happy. Rose, Ricky, and Jackie, were my most loyal fans. Every gig, they were in the audience. But then it all went bad. One night, as we were leaving the store, the guard asked me to take the lotto money down to Wilson. Rose offered to wait for me upstairs. When I went down, I was attacked by store front dummies. And that’s when I met him. My Doctor. He took my hand and he told me to run. He got me out of the store. But he didn’t know Rose was still inside. Before I could get to her, the store blew. She never had a chance. My first true friend in England and she was gone in an instant. She would be the first in a long line of those I couldn’t save.” Lily paused here to drink and to collect herself.

In the mean time, The Doctor’s mind was in overdrive. What would have happened to him if, that night oh so long ago, he hadn’t been able to get Rose out? What if he hadn’t been able to save her and she, in return, hadn’t been able to save him? Would he have found someone else? He immediately knew the answer was no. Rose was the only one who could have saved him. But, then again, Lily had obviously saved her Doctor. He didn’t know. All he knew was he definitely didn’t like the idea of a world where Rose was really dead.

Lily continued where she left off.

“I went back to the Estate that night and comforted Jackie. The next day he showed up again, tracking the dummies arm I had taken the night before. I confronted him. I told him I knew what he was. Then I told him what I was. To say he was shocked is an understatement. I don’t think he talked for 15 solid minutes, just sat there in stunned silence. I showed him the watch. He didn’t understand why I didn’t just open it, why I didn’t claim my birth right, but he respected my wishes. Of course right after that was when the arm decided to attack. Then we were off.   
We tracked the Nestene and stopped it. Then he offered to take me with him. I didn’t even think about it. My only stipulation was that I wanted to be at Rose’s funeral. He agreed, so I packed and called Jack to let him know, and I never looked back. We went so many places. Past, present, future, you name it, we went there. We saved Earth and other planets. We stopped World War Three and saved the future Prime Minister, Harry Jones. We met Jack in World War Two and brought him along.   But then came the game station. We were sucked into their twisted games and forced to play for our lives. And then came the real shock. The Daleks. I was transported to their ships and The Doctor came and rescued me. That was when he tricked me into going home. Also the first time he told me he loved me.”

She stopped here, unable to go on. The Doctor got up and got her some water and waited for her to calm down.

“Thank you. Any way. He sent me home in the TARDIS, but both she and I were having none of that. That’s when I realized. Everywhere we went two words seemed to follow us: Dark Phoenix. I realized they were a connection, a link between me and the Doctor. I managed to get into the heart and I took the Vortex into myself. I went back. When I arrived, The Doctor had given up. He wasn’t willing to be the one who destroyed the Human Race. He was horrified by what I’d done. He was absolutely sure it was going to kill me. But it didn’t.   
It changed me, right down to the molecular level.   
I managed to destroy most of the Daleks and bring Jack back to life, but some of them got away. By the end of it, I was too tired to move so The Doctor picked me up and took me home. Three days later, as we sat in the Vortex, I was finally able to get up. That’s when we figured out what had happened to me. I was now directly connected to the Vortex, my body changed in such a way that I was able to directly channel it’s power. This meant we had a weapon against the Daleks, but it also meant I dare not open the watch.   
We had no way of knowing what would happen if we suddenly introduced Time Lord physiology into the mix. Now that we knew I was in no immediate danger, we went back to our life, with one change. Instead of occupying two rooms, we now only used one. And for a while we were happy. We met new people.   
For awhile we had a lovely young doctor by the name of Martha Jones traveling with us, and then a temp from Cheswick named Donna Noble, who became my best friend. We spent time with Jack and his Torchwood team and I was a bride’s maid in Gwen and Jack’s wedding, while The Doctor was best man. We were happy. Then the war started.   
One day, no matter where we went, the Daleks were there. They attacked Earth in the 21th century, killing Gwen and Owen in the first wave. Martha was killed trying to help a little girl who had been trampled. Eventually the last safe place was the TARDIS, and they could track that. Eventually it was just The Doctor, me, Donna, and Jack. Tosh and Ianto were dead, as was the rest of Torchwood and Unit. Nothing was left on Earth really, except ruins.   
Then Jack was captured and left on the edge of a black hole. Always alive and always dying. Donna died later that same week. She died in my arms. Then we got word that the Daleks wanted me because they thought they could use the power of the Vortex. That’s when the Doctor decided he needed to get me out. So he sent me here.”

She stopped. Tears were pouring down her cheeks, but she didn’t seem to notice. “On our last night together, he told me he was sorry. But you know what? For a brief, shining moment, I was Lily Carter, Dark Phoenix, Companion to The Doctor, and I was happy. I wouldn’t have changed it for a second.”

As she finished her tale, she seemed to visibly relax, like it was a weight she had been carrying for too long. He just sat there in silence, when suddenly she asked a question.

“I’m assuming, since you didn’t recognize me, that I wasn’t your companion here, which implies I don’t exist. Either I died in burning of Gallifrey, or I never existed to begin with. But either way, you must have had a companion. Also, unless things are totally different, you’ve regenerated at least once more than my Doctor. So how far was my version of things from yours?”

He paused a minute before answering. “Not actually that different. You’re right, you’re not my companion, someone else was. We traveled together for a year before the fiasco at the game station. That’s where things seem to deviate massively. I sent her home and she came back, just like you, except her name in this reality was Bad Wolf. Also she destroyed the entire Dalek fleet. But she was fully human and the Vortex was killing her. I was forced to take it out of her which caused me to regenerate. After that is when things get really different.   
We traveled together for a year after my regeneration. During that time we wound up in an alternate reality where there were Cybermen. We thought we had defeated them. Another companion even chose to stay behind to make sure the problem was taken care of. But a few months later they punched their way through the void into our world. That was bad enough, but they also brought Daleks that had been hiding in the void since the Time War with them. Eventually I managed to suck them back into the void and close off the two realities, but my companion was caught on the other side. She’s gone now. I was saying goodbye right before you appeared. I ran out of time.” He looked down at the table, trying desperately to regain control.

“What was her name?” Lily asked him softly.

He looked at her long and hard, trying to judge if she was strong enough to hear this. Eventually he opened his mouth.

“Rose. Rose Tyler.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Ok so I was going to stop with Ch.2 but then I just seemed to keep writing. You will be happy to know that I am pretty much done with back story. A few more chapters of just them before The Christmas Bride though. I want them to be believable as friends before I launch into cannon. Tell me what you think so far!
> 
> Abbey


	4. Getting to Know You

Disclaimer: Ok so I’m willing to give up the rights to the TARDIS but I want Tennant. What do you mean you’re not authorized to give him to me? Well go find me someone who is. Amateurs.

Ch.4: Getting to Know You

They sat in silence for awhile after he told her.

“Rose.” She repeated.

He nodded and they fell back into silence. She just couldn’t believe it. There was a world where she hadn’t gotten her best friend killed. And instead of dying, she got to travel with the Doctor.

“I’m glad.” She told him softly. When he gave her a stunned look, she elaborated. “She got to live. Not only that but she went on the most fantastic journeys anyone can hope to go on.” She gave him a sly look. “Also, if you’re anything like my Doctor, she got to be loved by one of the most amazing men in the universe.” She smiled softly when he refused to look at her. She reached over and put her hand over his. “Even if you didn’t tell her, I’m sure she knew. And I’m sure she felt the same.”

“She did.” He whispered. “She told me. But I ran out of time. Now she’ll never know.” A single tear escaped. He angrily wiped it away. “Oh well. I’m fine.”

She squeezed his hand then removed hers. “No you’re not.” She laughed. “What a pair we make.”

He chuckled.   He jumped up and held out his hand. “I promised your Doctor I’d help you heal, so that’s what I’m going to do. Where do you want to go?”

She laughed softly at his antics. “Actually, can we spend a couple more days in the Vortex? My body’s still adjusting to this universe’s. Plus I’d like to get more comfortable with this TARDIS.” He nodded and began to lower his hand, when she reached out and grabbed it. “Come on skinny boy. You can show me around.” She stood and he led her out of the kitchen.

* * *

 

Three hours later they were in the control room. He had shown her all the rooms he thought she would like to know about. All the while they traded stories of places they had been and things they had done. Some were the same and some were different. They also just got to know each other better. She was amazed by how different and yet the similar he was to her Doctor. She knew how regeneration worked from the memories she saw when she was asleep, so she knew that, even in the same man, massive differences were to be expected. But the man before her, he still had a lot of the same traits her Doctor had. A universe over and he was still essentially the same, good, mysterious man. It comforted her as much as it hurt it. On one hand it meant that things weren’t quite as different as she was afraid they might, but on the other hand, it hurt her to look in his eyes and forget that he wasn’t her Doctor, only to be painfully brought back to reality.

As they entered the control room, they seem to run out of things to say. They stood there awkwardly for a few minutes when finally Lily broke the silence.

“I’m gonna go back to my room for now. Get in a nap.” She told him, motioning to the doorway.

“Right. I’m gonna…” he trailed off, pointing in the direction of the counsel.

“Right.” She said she stood there for a few seconds then walk to the door. Once she reached it, she paused and turned back to him.

“Thank you.” She told him.

He gave her a puzzled look. “What for?”

She just smiled and turned and left. He stood, looking after her and then shook his head. He reached down and pulled up a piece of grating, took off his jacket and began working.

* * *

 

The next few days they fell into an easy routine. The Doctor spent most of his day working on the TARDIS, repairing what needed fixing and doing general housekeeping, while Lily found things to occupy her time. On her second day in the TARDIS she found a music room, and from then on she could usually be found there. The first time the Doctor had gone looking for her and found her in there, singing, he had just stood outside listening. She was singing a song he knew was meant for her Doctor. It was a song of the pain of losing someone you had desperately tried to hold on to, and the knowledge that the time had come to let them go, no matter how painful it might be. In short it was a perfect description of feelings at the moment. When she finished, he opened the door.

“Dinner’s ready, if you want it.” He told her.

She jumped, not hearing him come in. She turned and nodded, so he waited while she closed up the piano. She stood, pausing to run her hand over the instrument one last time, and followed him.

As they were walking, he told her “You have a very beautiful voice.”

“Thank you.” She replied with a soft smile. “Singing is one of my favorite pastimes. It allows me to say the things I don’t really know how to articulate. It’s also one of the few things I have left of my old life. My voice and my songs.”

They walked the rest of the distance in silence. They had quickly realized that they were more comfortable in silence than in the attempt of making conversation. But they also seemed to be more comfortable if they were together than alone. Alone the grief became too much, together at least they knew they weren’t alone.

“Would you mind if I came and listened sometimes?” he asked suddenly.

She was startled. “Ummm…”

“If you do, that’s fine. I just enjoyed listening to you today from outside. But if it both-“

“No.” she cut him off. “I don’t mind at all. You just surprised me.” She smiled, “An audience doesn’t bother me. You’re of course welcome anytime.”

With that they went back to eating and to their own thoughts.

From then on, at least once a day the Doctor would come and listen for a few hours. She sang and she played, and he listened, even making requests every once in a while. One day a large collection of sheet music and music books appeared in a book case in the room.

“Where did all that come from?” he asked as he walked in one day.

Lily looked where he was pointing and laughed. “I asked the TARDIS if she had any music on board and she said yes. When I asked if I could see it, that appeared. Are you aware that you have an original Bach cantata in there?”

“Yeah, he wrote it for me.” He told her, distracted by the beginning of her statement. “You can hear the TARDIS?” he asked.

“Yeah. My bond to the Vortex gives me a bond to her.” She looked up worried. “That’s alright, right?” she asked, hesitantly.

“Yeah, it just took me by surprise.” He smiled. “Now she can bug you instead of me!” They both laughed and went on with their business.

A week after Lily arrived, the Doctor announced that they needed to return to real space so he could complete some repair. He dropped out of the Vortex and was getting ready to start, when he looked up and saw a red headed woman standing with her back to him.

“What?”

She turned around and saw him.

“Ah!”

“What?”

“Who are you?” she asked.  
  
“Bu-“  
  
“Where am I?”  
  
“What?!”  
  
“What the hell is this place?”

“What?!?!”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well there you have it folks. Donna is in the house. Into season 3 we go. As always, Feedback is appreciated!
> 
> Abbey


	5. The Runaway Bride-What!

Disclaimer: So, Lily, how is our subtle plan to seduce the Doctor to our side and leave those fools at the BBC coming along? What do you mean they’ve offered you a contract?! No, I will not sign you over to them! Get back here young lady!

Ch.5: The Runaway Bride-What!

Everything was set. The flowers were perfect, the band was all set, everyone was dressed in their very best, she looked fantastic, and, best of all, just a short aisle away, the most perfect man in the world stood waiting for her. In short, Donna Noble’s life was just about as perfect as it could possibly get. She heard the organ begin its famous call and the butterflies in her stomach tripled. As she began her march down the aisle to her perfect future, they grew even more. In fact they were getting kind of painful. Suddenly they became ten times more painful, a hundred times more painful. She could only scream as everything suddenly went dark. The next thing she knew, she was in an odd, dome shaped room. She turned as she heard someone behind her. There stood a very skinny man in a pinstriped suit behind the oddest contraption she had ever seen.

“Who are you?” she asked. He sputtered, but she cut him off. “Where am I?”

“What?” He seemed incapable of saying anything else.

“What the hell is this place?” she asked, her voice rising.  
“What?”

_The man’s an idiot_ she thought to herself. He just stared at her in shock.

“You can’t do that, I wasn’t even- But we’re in flight! That is, That is physically impossible. How did yo-“  
She cut him off again, “Tell me where I am!” she told him, her voice starting to rise to new heights. “I demand you tell me right now: where am I?”

“You’re inside the TARDIS.” He told her, looking more and more confused.

“The what?”

“The _TARDIS_.” He repeated moving to check the counsel.

“The _what_?”

“It’s called the TARDIS.” He told her.

“That’s not even a proper word!” she countered. “You’re just saying things!”

“How did you get in here?” he demanded.

“Well obviously when you kidnapped me! Who was it that put you up to this, huh? Was it Nyeris? Is this her? She finally getting me back?”

“Who the hell is Nyeris?” he asked her, completely mystified by what she was saying.

“You’re best friend.” She told him with a sneer.

“Hold on, wait a minute. Why are you dressed like that?” he asked, suddenly realizing she was wearing a full length white gown and a veil.

“I’m going ten pin bowling. What do you think, dumbo?!” she yelled at him. “I’m getting married! I was half way up the aisle!” she started to rant while he messed with the counsel. “I’m gonna have the police on you! Me and my husband, as soon as he is my husband, are going to sue the pants off you!”

Suddenly she saw the doors. _Yes!_ She ran to them while he yelled for her to wait. She flung them open to be greeted by a nebula. She just stood there in shock. He calmly walked up and stood behind her. He silently asked the TARDIS to get Lily up to the control room.

Out loud he told her “You’re in space. Outer space. This is my…space ship. It’s called The TARDIS.”

“How am I breathing?” she asked, that being the only question that would come to mind at the moment.

“The TARDIS is protecting us.”

Finally regaining some of her brain power, her next question was “Who are you?”

“I’m the Doctor.”

“Donna.”

“Human?” he guessed.

“Yeah. Is that optional?”

“Well, it is for me.” He told her turning back to the open doors.

“You’re an alien.” It wasn’t a question.

He answered any way. “Yeah.”

They stood in silence.

With nothing else to say, Donna said the first thing that popped into her head.

“It’s freezing with these doors open.”

The Doctor gave her a look and quickly closed them. He then ran back to the counsel.

“I don’t understand this, and I understand everything. This, this can’t be happening. There is no way a human being can lock it’s self on and beam it’s self into the TARDIS.” He grabbed a device that resembled one of those things doctors use to look at your eyes and started looking at her while rambling on so fast that she had no hope of understanding. Finally when she couldn’t take it any longer, she did the only thing she could think of. She slapped him.

He recoiled in shock. “What was that for?”

“GET ME TO THE CHURCH!” she screamed at him.

“Right. Fine.” He dropped the device he was holding and moved around the counsel. “I don’t want you here anyway. Where is this church?”

“Saint Mary’s” she told him, “Paytor Road, Cheswick, London, England, Earth, The Solar System.”

That was when she spotted the jacket. She ran over and grabbed it off the railing.

“I knew it.” She told him, shoving it in his face. “Acting all innocent. I’m not the first. How many women have you abducted?”

The Doctor was confused for a moment, till he spotted the jacket. His face hardened. He and Lily had quickly come to an unspoken agreement. She didn’t mention the jacket that still lay where Rose had thrown it before she left that last day, and he didn’t mention a certain leather jacket that seemed to go missing from his wardrobe two days after she had arrived. Seeing this loud, obnoxious woman, holding something of the love he had loss broke something inside of him.

“That’s my friend’s.” he told her, keeping his emotions closely in check.

“Well where is she? Popped out for a spacewalk?” she asked him snidely.

“She’s gone.”

“Gone _where_?” Donna demanded.

He looked at the jacket, then he looked down. “I lost her.”

Before Donna could continue, the sound of breaking china distracted both of them.

The Doctor turned to see Lily standing in the doorway, growing paler by the second. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the new comer.

“Donna?” she whispered.

They all just stood there. The Doctor, unable to think of anything else, went back to his faithful standby question.

“What?!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry it’s kinda short, but I want to see Lily part in all this separate from everything else. 
> 
> Abbey


	6. The Runaway Bride - Saying Goodbye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I know I put these at the end, but I want to warn everyone that there is, what I consider, a kinda violent death in this chapter. If this bothers you, you might want to skip this chapter.

Disclaimer: I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts, doodlely do. There they are all sitting in a row, bump bump bump. I’ll keep singing till they give me my Doctor. Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head…

Ch.6: The Runaway Bride-Saying Goodbye

Lily was in the kitchen, taking a break from her practice. While making herself a cup of tea, she jumped when the TARDIS started yelling in her head that the Doctor wanted her in the control room.

“Calm down, girl.” she told the ship. She had noticed that the Doctor always talked to his ship in his mind, but she liked to talk to her like she was in the room. Granted she was the room, but still.

“Is he alright?” she asked the panicking ship.

_Depends on how you classify ‘alright’_. The TARDIS replied. Even in a crisis, the ship had a wicked sense of humor.

Lily laughed. “Will he die in the time it takes me to finish making this cup?”

_Probably not._

Lily finished what she was doing and started to the control room.

“So what did he do this time? Cross two wires and set himself on fire again?” she asked with a smile.

_Well he just got slapped, it that counts._

Lily stopped. “Slapped?! By who?”

_A red head that just appeared. He’s of course blaming me for it..._

The TARDIS kept going, but Lily had stopped listening and sped up. A red head? It couldn’t be. That would just be too strange.

Lily reached the control room and stopped in the doorway, the cup slipping from her hands and crashing to the floor.

“Donna?” she whispered.

She vaguely heard the Doctor ask his favorite question before she fell to her knees. Before she could stop it, memories started to overwhelm her mind. Soon she was trapped, reliving one of the worst moments in her life. But then she realized what was worse than that.

She was losing control.

* * *

 

The Doctor was confused. How could this really annoying woman be the same woman who had become Lily’s best friend and his counterpart’s companion in the other universe? But when he saw Lily fall to the ground, he knew something was wrong.

He quickly moved so he was kneeling in front of her. Her eyes were open, but he could tell that what she was seeing was not in the real world, but in her mind.

Donna, on the other hand, had decided to start up again.

“See I was right. Where did you pick her up? Disney World?   Probably been doing all kinds of freaky alien things to her. She definitely looks like she’s on-“

“Donna, shut up!” The Doctor told her, turning to glare at her.

Donna, finally realizing something was really wrong, stared at him, but, thankfully, stopped talking.

The Doctor turned his attention back to Lily.

“Lily can you hear me?”

When he got no response, he tried shaking her gently, but she didn’t show any signs of noticing. Not knowing what it might do to her, he was afraid to move her. With no other option left to him, he put his hands on either side of her head and entered her mind.

He found himself in a chaotic flood of Lily’s memories. It was easy to distinguish between those that came from before she met the Doctor and which ones came after. The ones from before seemed almost fake compared to the vibrant memories of her times with the man she loved. But as the memories went on, they became darker. He saw more deaths than a woman her age should’ve ever had to endure. Finally he found the one she was trapped in and entered it.

He found himself in a room, obviously of Dalek design. In the middle lay Donna, strapped to a steel slab. The woman had been tortured, that much was clear. She had hundreds of cuts all over her body, not to mention the multitude of bruises. Some of the cuts were half way healed, while others were very fresh. She had obviously been here for a while.

The door opened and Lily ran in. She looked around and spotted the older woman, ran to her and started to undo the straps holding her the moment she was close enough.

“Lily.” He heard Donna say weakly.

Lily stopped what she was doing to grab her friend’s hand.

“Hey girl.” she whispered. “How you doing?”

Donna chuckled weakly, which quickly turned into a cough. When she finally stopped, she smiled thinly.

“I’ve been better.”

Lily laughed softly. “Well, don’t you worry. We’re gonna get you out of here and the Doctor’s going to fix you right up.” She told the red head, forcing cheerfulness into her voice.

Donna smiled at her. “Liar.” She told her, humor evident through the pain.

Lily squeezed Donna’s hand. “Shut it you.” With one last squeeze she went back to freeing her from the table.

When the last one was finally undone, Lily helped Donna to stand and they started for the door. They made it halfway when Donna fell. Not expecting the sudden loss of balance, Lily fell with her. Groaning, she moved to push herself up, only to slip again. She looked down and saw that the ground around her was quickly becoming stained red with blood. Donna’s blood. Lily struggled to turn her friend over. She couldn’t see where it was coming from, it just seemed like it was coming from everywhere. Then she realized that’s exactly where it was coming from, everywhere. Her best friend was bleeding out from every one of the cuts on her damaged body. Not knowing what else to do, Lily pulled Donna into her arms and held her, not seeming to even notice that her friend’s blood was soaking her.

“Lily…”

“Shh.” She hushed Donna, paying no heed to the tears pouring down her cheeks. “You’re gonna be fine. You’ll see.” She couldn’t go on through her tears. She just held her as her life left her in rivers of red.

“Lily…I’m sorry.”

Lily sobbed. “You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for, luv.”

Donna smiled. “Neither do you. I…will…not let you…blame…”

“Donna!” Lily cried as her eyes fluttered. “Stay with me. Stay with me, Donna!” She could tell her best friend was slipping away.

“Tell…Doctor…he better…keep you…safe…Couldn’t have…asked…for a…better…best friend…Love..yo…”

And she was gone.

Lily pulled her to her chest and sobbed. Slowly, after awhile, the sobs subsided, and something took their place. The air, which had been still, was now electrified.

Lily lifted her head and opened her eyes. What he saw terrified the Doctor.

Lily’s strange gray eyes were now brilliant gold.

Then she faded away. The Doctor realized that the memory was starting over.

_She must be stuck_ he realized. Pulling out a little he also saw that her control over her powers was slipping. Too much of her focus was on suppressing the memory again that she was losing control. It wasn’t perfect, but the only option at the moment was to suppress the memory and let her focus on her control. He envisioned a door and started to push the memory behind it. One day, soon, she would have to deal with it, but this wasn’t the moment. As he pushed he felt her control reassert itself. They were out of danger for now. With one last push, the memory was locked away. He pulled out and started to drop his hands when he felt her keeping them in place. She looked into his eyes and he heard her in his head.

_Thank you_ she told him, gratitude ringing with every word.

_I know I should have asked, but there was no time_ he replied.

He felt her smile, _If you had waited, we would probably be dead._

_Still._ He looked away.

She took one hand away from his and made him look at her. _If you ever think I’m going to lose control, you have permission to enter my mind. No matter what. I trust you._

And she did. He could feel her trust in him. He smiled and nodded.

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?”

Until this moment, they had forgotten about Donna. Now they turned to look at her, then turned back to each other.

_So what do we do with her?_ They asked at the same time.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So that’s how Donna died in Lily’s Universe. Feedback please.
> 
> Abbey


	7. The Runaway Bride - That Was Fun

Disclaimer:  
I have asked for but I have not received  
that for which my heart will always bleed.  
For though you still reside within my mind,  
I wish for you, Doctor, to be only mine.

Ch.7: The Runaway Bride-That Was Fun

Eventually, the two decided to just drop Donna off at her wedding, try to figure out what had happened, and then go on their merry way. Of course, with the Doctor driving, nothing ever goes according to plan.

Back on Earth, the whole wedding was in a tizzy. A wedding without a bride was kind of pointless. Especially when the bride had disappeared in such a dramatic way. Everyone was on a phone, calling everyone from the police to pound. Where had she gone?

Little did they know, the bride’s designated driver had sorta, kinda, you know, failed his test?

“Doctor, I think this is some of the worst driving you’ve ever done!” Lily yelled as they were thrown around.

“It’s not me!” he yelled back.

“You always say that! I think she’s starting to take offense.”

“What do you want from me?!”

“I want you to drive without making me throw up!”

“Well, talk to her!”

“WILL YOU TWO STOP TALKING LIKE THE SHIP’S ALIVE!” Donna screamed at them from where she was holding on for dear life.

They both turned and stared at her.

“But, but, but she is!” The Doctor sputtered. He looked like a kid who was just told Santa isn’t real.

“It’s a ship!” she told him, as if speaking to a simpleton.

“Excuse me, but TARDISs are sentient. They’re grown, not made.” He told her with an air of superiority.

Right as he said this they touched down and were thrown across the room. Faster than anyone would have thought possible in a floor length gown, Donna was up and through the doors. As she looked around, she realized they were nowhere near a church.

The Doctor and Lily walked out right then and she rounded on them.

“I said St. Mary’s!” she told him. “What sort of Martian are you?”

The Doctor was completely ignoring her, too busy trying to coax an answer out of the TARDIS as to the bad flight.

“It’s like something’s wrong with her.” He said to no one. Lily was standing next to him, watching him stroke the TARDIS, desperately trying not to laugh.

“It’s almost like she’s…RECALIBRATING!”

He ran back in and straight up to the counsel. “She’s digesting!” he called out to Lily. Lily, though wasn’t paying attention. She was much too busy watching Donna’s reaction to the outside of the TARDIS.

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor was still trying to find out what was going on.

“Donna? Can you think of anything that might have caused this? Anything you might have done? Some kind of alien contact? I can’t have you wandering off, you’re too dangerous.”

Lily was still watching Donna, who, she could tell was not listening to the Doctor ramble on, at all.

“Who’s this man you’re marrying?” he continued. “Are you sure he’s human? Hasn’t got a zipper on his forehead, does he?” turning and not seeing her, he walked to the door where Lily was standing.

“Where is she?” he asked. Lily, not even bothering to hide her amusement, pointed to Donna’s retreating back. He glared at her, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Lily just smirked. “This was more fun.”

He groaned and ran after Donna. Lily followed at a slower pace.

“I would have said something eventually!”

“Donna…” he said as he caught up.

“Leave me alone. I just want to get married.”

“Donna, just come back to the TARDIS.” He told her.

She shook her head. “No way. That box is too weird.”

Lily lost control of her laughter for a second here, but got it back when the Doctor turned and glared at her.

He turned back. “It’s bigger on the inside, that’s all.” He told her, as if this explained everything.

She stared at him. “Oh! That’s all?” She looked at her watched and groaned. “Ten past three! I’m gonna miss it!”

“Can’t you phone them? Tell them where you are?”

“How do I do that?”

“Haven’t you got a mobile?”

Lily lost control again at that. When he turned and glared at her again, she pointed out the obvious.

“Doctor it’s a wedding dress.”

He turned and looked at Donna then back at Lily. “So?”

“I don’t have pockets!” Donna told him. “Have you ever seen a bride with pockets?” Her voice was rising with every sentence. Lily was basically in hysterics at this point, while the Doctor seemed to be looking for the quickest way to get away. “You know what the one thing I forgot at my fitting at Chez Allison? You know what I forgot to say?   I forgot to say GIVE ME POCKETS!”

“This man you’re marrying, what’s his name?” The Doctor asked.

Suddenly, Donna was all sweetness. “Lance.”

“Good luck, Lance.” At this Lily gave up all pretense of not laughing.

“Oi! No stupid Martian is going to stop me from getting married.” She yelled at him, walking away again. “The hell with you!”

The Doctor just stood there. “I’m, I’m not, I’m not from Mars.” He called after her.

Lily patted his arm as she walked past him. “Might as well give up now. She’s never going to care.”

He shook his head and followed.

******************************************************************************

They found a busy street and were trying to hail a cab, but none would stop. Lily stood back and watched as the two of them, a red head in a wedding gown and a man in a pinstripe suit, tried to hail taxi after taxi.

“Why aren’t they stopping?” The Doctor asked.

“They think I’m in fancy dress.” Donna told him. Another driver drove by and told her to lay off the sauce, “They think I’m drunk!”, while a car drove by and the driver told her she wasn’t fooling anyone, “They think I’m in drag!” For a second, Lily thought Donna might deck him when he gave her a once over. Finally she moved up.

“Move over,” she told them, “and leave this to the professionals.” With that, she put her fingers to her lips and blew. Three taxis immediately stopped and they got in the closest one.

“You couldn’t have done that sooner?” The Doctor asked her as she got in.

“Guess what I’m about to say.”

“That was more fun?”

She grinned. “Yep!”

He just sighed. Donna, in the mean time, gave the address to the driver and told him to hurry. When he informed them it would be cost them double, it being Christmas and all, Donna turned to the Doctor.

“Oh my god. Have you got any money?” she asked.

“Ummm, no. Haven’t you?”

Both Donna and Lily turned and yelled “POCKETS!”.

After being kicked out, they took the next best option. The Doctor led Donna to a pay phone and set her up to call, while he went in search of a cash machine. The only one was already being used, so he and Lily were forced to wait.

“I could distract him.” She said as the man took his time.

The Doctor looked down at the sweatshirt and jeans she was wearing and gave her a look.

She glared at him. “Shut up.”

Finally, the man left and the Doctor got some money using the sonic screwdriver.

“You know that’s stealing, right?” she asked as they walked away.

“What are you going to do? Turn me in?” he mimicked her. “Oh officer! My Time Lord friend here just stole money from the cash machine using his amazing sonic screwdriver!” He snorted. “Yeah, that’s going to work.”

She slapped his arm, which he proceeded to grab and make a big deal of.

Unknown to them, Donna had been asking to borrow money from every person she saw. As they walked towards her, someone finally took pity. Grabbing a cab, she yelled back at them “THANKS FOR NOTHING!”

It was then the Doctor noticed the brass band that had been playing. He looked at them and back at Donna.

“What is it?” Lily asked, seeing his look.

“The band…”

That was when he saw the driver. It was one of the band.

“DONNA!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Ok I know it seems like Lily isn’t at all affected by what happened, but I promise she is and it will be dealt with soon. Now I would like to take this moment to thank the people who have reviewed and encourage all of you to follow their bright, shining example. For the slow out there: REVIEW! Please and thank you! *Goes skipping off and then falls on her face.* Ouch.
> 
> Abbey


	8. The Runaway Bride - The Chase is On!

Disclaimer: I love my Doctor, oh yes I do. I love my Doctor, through and through. And if he leaves me, I’m blue! Oh Doctor, I love you! What do you mean that wasn’t good enough? That took me five whole seconds!

Ch.8: The Runaway Bride-The Chase is On!

“Doctor, what’s going on?” Lily asked

“I’ve seen those Santa’s before.” He told her, looking for an escape. “Last Christmas, when I regenerated.”

“Wait I remember this story.” She said, backing away. “Pilot Fish, right? To the Sicorax’s shark?”

“Yeah.”

“This isn’t the same Christmas, right?” He just stared at her.

“Just how bad of a driver do you think I am?”

The band started towards them when the Doctor spotted the cash machine. Pointing his screwdriver at it, he caused it to start spewing cash. This being the charitable and good minded world that it is, people of course started attacking anything in their way, trying to get to the money. The Doctor and Lily slipped away in the confusion.

In the Taxi, Donna was assuring the driver he’d get the rest of the money when they arrived when she realized he had missed the turn.

“Excuse me, I said Cheswick. We should have turned right there.” The driver just ignored her.

“What the hell are you doing?” she yelled as he got on the freeway. “I’m late!”

He just kept driving.

“For my wedding! My own wedding, do you get that?! Oi! Are you deaf or what?”

She reached up and grabbed his hood, knocking his mask off in the process.   She could do nothing but stare in shock at the robot that lay beneath. So she did what came naturally. She started screaming.

“HELP ME! HELP ME! I’M BEING DRIVEN BY A ROBOT!”

* * *

 

Back on the TARDIS, Lily and the Doctor were desperately trying to keep her together as they flew. Sparks were flying everywhere and it seemed like the TARDIS was trying to shake herself apart.

“Behave!” the Doctor yelled, hitting the counsel.

“You know she doesn’t like it when you do that!” Lily called.

“Yeah well she can complain later. Right now she can do as I say.”

They flew, following the tracking on Donna, only hitting a few cars on the way. The Doctor told Lily what to do then ran to the doors and flung them open.

“Open the door!” he screamed to her.

“Do what?” she screamed back.

“Open the DOOR!”

She tried the handle.

“I can’t! It’s locked!”

The Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at it and the window opened.

“Santa’s a robot.” She told him.

“Donna, open the door!” he yelled at her again.

“What for?”

“You’re going to have to jump!”

“I’m a bleeding bit jumpy, I’m supposed to be getting married!”

RoboSanta, just noticing what was going on, sped the car up.

The Doctor looked back at Lily and screamed “NOW!”.

Lily pulled the lever and they sped up so they were level with the car again. The console gave up the ghost then and just blew up.

As they pulled level the Doctor almost fell. As he regained his balance, he used the sonic screwdriver again and disabled RoboSanta.

“You’ve got to jump!”

“I’m not jumping on a motor way!”

He gave an exasperated sigh, “Look what ever that thing is, it needs you. And whatever it needs you for, it’s not good. Now come on!”

“I’m in my wedding dress!”

“Yes, you look lovely. Come on!”

Moaning, Donna opened the door.

Looking down at the road flying by and back up at the Doctor, she shook her head.

“I can’t do it!”

“Trust me.” He told her, just loud enough for her to hear.

“Is that what you said to her?” she asked. “You’re friend, the one you lost. Did she trust you?”

The Doctor’s face hardened. “Yes she did. And she is not dead, she is so alive. Now JUMP!”

Donna waited a second longer and then did as he asked. As she landed on him, the doors slammed shut.

“And away we go!” Lily called as she pressed the buttons necessary to take them away from there.

* * *

 

Donna looked down at her watch. From behind her, she could hear Lily and the Doctor trying to put out fires.

“Will you shut it, you?” the Doctor yelled.

Lily ran out before he could hit her with a spray from the fire extinguisher.

“Well you did say she could complain later!”

“Yeah but I didn’t mean it!”

They closed the doors and walked over to Donna.

“Funny thing is,” The Doctor said, “for a space ship, she doesn’t actually do all that much flying. We better give her a little bit.”

_Damn straight, you better give me a little bit. Better yet why don’t I give you…_ The Doctor tuned the rest of what the TARDIS said out.

Donna sighed.

“You alright?” Lily asked.

“Doesn’t matter.” She replied.

“Did we miss it?” The Doctor asked from her other side.

“Yeah.”

“You can book another date.” Lily told her.

“’Course we can.”

“And you’ve still got the honeymoon.” The Doctor interjected.

“Just a holiday now.” She replied.

He looked away. “Yeah. Yeah. Sorry.” He told her.

She shrugged. “It’s not your fault.” She told him.

“Oh! Well that’s a change!”

Lily and Donna both chuckled at him.

Donna sighed again.

“Wish you had a time machine.” When he gave her a look, she elaborated. “Then we could go back and get it right.”

The Doctor looked uncomfortable as he agreed. “Yeah. But even if I did, I couldn’t go back in someone’s personal time line.” He told her. “Apparently.”

Lily saw the wistfulness in his face and knew what he was thinking he’d like to change.

Donna moved to sit on the edge of the roof. After a moment, they followed and sat on either side of her. Before he sat though, the Doctor took off his jacket and put it around Donna. When she tried to pull it closed, she looked at him.

“God you’re skinny.   This wouldn’t fit a rat.”

The Doctor ignored Lily’s laughter.

“Oh!” he exclaimed, pulling a ring out of his pocket. “You better put this on.”

“Do you really have to rub it in, Doctor?” Lily asked him, with a look that said ‘God you’re an idiot’, which he, again, ignored.

“It’s a bio-damper.” He continued, as if Lily had said nothing. “Those creatures seem to be able to trace you, so this will keep you hidden.” Reaching over he lifted her hand. “With this ring, I, thee, bio-damp.”

He told her, popping the p.

“For better or for worse” Donna replied.

They sat in silence for second, then Lily let out a big “AW!” and burst into fake sobs. The Doctor responded by hitting her upside the head. She pouted and rubbed the spot he hit, while Donna chuckled at their antics. Lily smiled when she saw she had accomplished her goal of getting the woman to smile.

“So come on, then.” Donna said, still smiling. “Robot Santa’s. What are they for?” she asked.

“Oh, your basic Robo-scavangers. The Father Christmas stuff’s just a disguise. Trying to blend in.”

He told her. “I met them last Christmas.”

She looked at him. “Why? What happened then?”

He stared at her. “Great big spaceship? Hovering over London? You didn’t notice?”

She shrugged. “I had a bit of a hangover.”

He let it go.

“I spent Christmas day just over there.” He told her nodding to a place in front of them. “The Powell Estate. With this-“ he broke off. “Family.” He continued. “My friend she had this family.” He looked down. “Well- Still…gone now.”

Lily reached behind Donna and put her hand on his arm. He looked at her and she smiled softly. She squeezed his arm once and let go.

“You’re friend,” Donna began, noticing the interaction between the two of them. “Who was she?”

The Doctor though had moved on. “Question is, what do Robo-mercenaries want with you?” he asked, looking perplexed.

“And how did she get inside the TARDIS?” Lily asked.

“I don’t know.” He replied.

“But you know everything!” Lily told him, grinning, but he just ignored her.

“What’s your job?” He asked Donna, while Lily quietly muttered, “You know I’m getting kind of sick of you ignoring me.”

He reached into the pocket of his jacket that Donna was wearing and pulled out the sonic screwdriver.

“I’m a secretary.” She told him.

He started to scan her while saying, “It’s weird. I mean you’re not special, you’re not powerful, you’re not connected, you’re not cleaver, you’re not important.”

Donna glared at him. “This friend of yours, just before she left, did she punch you in the face?” she asked.

“No but I would!” Lily replied and Donna nodded.

“Hey!” the Doctor exclaimed.

Donna knocked the screwdriver out of her face. “Stop bleeping me!”

“Nice one.” Lily whispered.

“Thanks.”

The Doctor glared at Lily again and continued his questions.

“What kind of secretary?”

“I’m at H.C. Clemens.” She told him. Her face went all soft again, “That’s where I met Lance. I was temping.”

“I mean it was all a pit posh, really.” She told them. “I’d spent the last two years at a double glazing firm! Well, I thought, I’m never gonna fit in here. And then he made me a cup of coffee. I mean that just doesn’t happen. No one gets the secretary a cup of coffee. And Lance, he’s the head of HR! He don’t need to bother with me!” She smiled. “But he was nice. He was funny. And, it turns out, he thought everyone else was really snotty too. So that’s how it started, me and him. A cup of coffee.”

“When was this?” the Doctor asked.

“Six months ago.” She told him.

“Bit quick to get married, isn’t it?” Lily wanted to know.

“Well, he insisted.” She told them. “And he nagged and he nagged me.”

The Doctor gave Lily a look that clearly said _Yeah right!_.

Lily giggled, but Donna just kept going.

“And he just wore me down. And then finally, I just gave in.”

The Doctor chose to move on. “What does H.C. Clemens do?”

“Security systems.” She told him. “You know, entry codes, ID cards, that sort of thing.” She shrugged, “You ask me, it’s a posh name for locksmith’s.”

“Keys.” He murmured.

“Anyway,” she replied. “It’s time to face the consequences.” She shuttered. “It’s going to be so shaming.” She went back to glaring at him. “You can do the explaining, Martian Boy.”

Lily laughed at the Doctor’s expression. “Yeah,” he told her, “I’m not from Mars.” He stood and offered both hands to Donna and Lily, helping them both up.

“Oh I had this great big reception all planned.” She told them as they stood. “Everyone’s going to be heartbroken.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: That’s what you think. Anyway, there you go. Hope you liked it. Review Please!
> 
> Abbey


	9. The Runaway Bride - Life of the Party

Disclaimer: I bow in humility before the greatness of Russell T Davies.   I shun the stupidity of Steven Moffat. I, instead, request they give it to me.

Ch.9: The Runaway Bride-The Life of the Party

When they arrived, they found the reception in full swing. To say that Donna was shocked would be an understatement. No, looking at her face, the word Lily would choose would be pissed.

“You had the reception without me?”

Lance tried to save himself, pitiful as it was.

“Donna, what happened to you?”

“You HAD the reception WITHOUT me?” she repeated.

Before Lily could stop him, the Doctor chimed in with “Hello, I’m the Doctor and this is Lily.” Until he said that, she had been trying to look like she didn’t know him, but when he pointed at her she weakly waved then slapped his arm.

Donna rounded on them. “They had the reception WITHOUT me!” she shouted at them.

“Yes.” The Doctor replied. “I gathered that.”

A blonde, stupid woman, who had been dancing with Lance when they arrived, decided to put her two cents in. “Well why not? It was all paid for.”

Lily winced at the stupidity of that statement.

“Thank you, Nyeris.” Donna growled.

“Ah so that’s Nyeris.” The Doctor whispered to Lily.

“Who’s Nyeris?”

“The woman Donna accused of paying me to kidnap her.”

“Ah.”

In the mean time, Donna’s mother had stepped up to the plate.

“What were we supposed to do?” she asked. (“Not have a reception when the bride is running for her life would be a start.” Lily said, starting her own commentary.) “I got your silly little message in the end. I’m on Earth, very funny. What the hell is that supposed to mean, I’m on Earth?”

(“That she was on Earth. What else could that mean?” the Doctor said getting in on it.)

“But what the hell happened?” her mother continued. At this point everyone started talking at once and when it all became too much, Donna let out a big sob. Everyone stopped. By the second sob, Lance had grabbed her in an embrace and she was crying into his shoulder.   At least that’s what everyone thought. As everyone in the crowed aww’ed , Donna winked at the Lily and the Doctor.

“I could never have gotten away with that.” Lily said as the crowed moved away.

“Well you’re not that special.” The Doctor told her as he walked away.

Lily just stood there.

“What do you mean I’m not special? I’m damn special!” she called after him. She waited a few moments and then stomped after him.

* * *

 

A few minutes later, they found themselves standing at the open bar. When Lily tried to order a drink, the Doctor stopped her.

“Where did you live on Earth?” he asked her.

She looked confused. “Before I met Jack, or after?”

“Before. Where did you grow up?” he replied.

“America. New York. You know this, what’s your point?”

“That until you’re 21, you’re not allowed to drink.” He told her.

“Where the hell did you come up with that?” she asked him.

“You’re an American citizen, so you follow their laws.”

She looked at him, disbelieving. “So let me see if I’ve got this straight. By your rules, I can move to England on my own, go traveling with a 900 year old alien, sleep with said 900 year old alien, fight in a war, and travel to another whole universe by the time I’m 20, but I can’t order a martini?”

“Yep.” He told her, as if it was the most obvious thing.

“You do realize that I was already like 20 in Time Lord years when I was put through the arch, so I’m like 40, right?”

“Human Years.” He replied.

“Right. You’re crazy, you know that right?”

“Yep.”

“Of course you do.” She turned back to the bar keeper. “I guess I’m having a coke.”

The Doctor saw a man on his phone and went to ask him if he could borrow it. He came back as Lily was getting her drink.

Seeing the phone, Lily said “I’ve been meaning to ask, my cell, will it work here?”

“It should.” He told her. “I’ll check it when we get back to the TARDIS. Now shh. I’m trying to find something out.”

He typed in H.C. Clemens into the search engine and ran the sonic screwdriver over it. After a few seconds the phone spit out it’s answer.

“Torchwood. They were in your stories and they definitely weren’t like my Jack’s Torchwood. They’re the reason…” Lily broke off. They stood there in silence, then the Doctor closed the phone and gave it back.

They stood there watching the people. The Doctor spotted a blonde women dancing and was assaulted with memories of Rose. He shook his head to clear it and glanced at Lily. She didn’t noticed, to wrapped in her own memories

_“Where are we going?” she asked as the Doctor dragged her out of the TARDIS._

_“You’ll see.”_

_As they emerge, the first thing she saw was the Eiffel Tower._

_“Oh my god.” She breathed. “Paris”_

_“You said you’d never been, and I decided that was a travesty.” He told her smiling. He kept smiling as she walked away and turned on the spot, trying to soak it all in. She turned so she was looking at him._

_“Thank you.” She said simply then walked up and kissed him._

_“Come on” he said. “We’re going dancing.”_

She felt the Doctor nudge her, and she quickly wiped away her tears.

“You ok?” he asked.

“Yeah.” She replied. She smiled up at him, “Just remembering.”

He smiled back. “Me too.”

She glanced around the room and saw the man videotaping the reception.

“Didn’t you say something about wanting to see what happened at the wedding?”

* * *

 

“Yeah I taped the whole thing.” He told them when they asked. “We’ve all had a look. They said sell it to _You’ve Been Framed_ , I said more like the news.” He queued up the tape. “Here we are.”

Lily and the Doctor watched as Donna glowed and disappeared.

“It can’t be.” The Doctor whispered. “Play it again?”

“Doctor?” Lily asked.

“But that’s…Huon particles.” He said.

“Umm, for the uninformed, what are Huon particles?” she asked.

“Their impossible, that’s what they are.” He told her, not noticing the strange looks the cameraman was giving them. “That’s old, ancient. Huon energy doesn’t exist anymore. That’s billions and billions of years. So old…”

“Let me guess,” Lily said as he turned to look at Donna, “it can’t be hidden by a bio-damper?”

He took off running. “Yeah that’s what I thought.” She ran after him.

She found him at the front door. Outside stood two of the Robo-Santas. He took off running again and Lily followed.

“Donna!” he yelled as he ran in the room.

“Donna they found you!” he said as he reached her, Lily only a few seconds behind him.

“But you said I was safe!”

“The bio-damper doesn’t work.” Lily told her as the Doctor searched for a way out.

“We’ve got to get everyone out.” He said.

“My god, it’s all my family.” She said, looking around.

“Out the back door!” Lily said pointing. They took off, but when they reached it, they saw two more Santas.

“Maybe not.” The Doctor stated. They closed the doors and ran back inside. They ran to another and saw that it was too blocked. There was no way out.

“Oh, no.” Lily moaned when they saw the controller.

“What?” Donna asked.

“Christmas trees.” The Doctor said.

“What about them?”

The Doctor and Lily looked at each other and said together, “They kill.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: You know, I will never look at Christmas Trees the same ever again. As always, please review.
> 
> Abbey


	10. The Runaway Bride - Who's in Charge?

Disclaimer: If I owned this I would be living on a tropical island, not Hicksville where I currently reside. Or at least England. Either way, it would not be anywhere the idiots who live around me.

Ch.10: The Runaway Bride-Who’s in Charge?

The Doctor sprung into action.

“Get away from the tree!” he yelled shooing everyone away. Lily and Donna joined him and helped him shoo people. People mostly seem to think they were nuts.

“Oh, for God’s sake, the man’s an idiot.” Donna’s mother proclaimed. “Why? What’s a Christmas tree going to…oh.”

The sight before them was incredibly surreal. It would have been funny if it wasn’t so horrifying. The ornaments were floating away from the tree and hovering above them. All of a sudden they started to dive bomb. Everyone dove for cover as ornaments became explosives. Unnoticed, the Doctor made his way to the DJ’s station in the midst of the confusion. Once he reached it, he stood and addressed the Santas.

“Oi! Santa! Word of advice: if you’re attacking a man with a sonic device…” he picked up the microphone and spoke into it, “don’t let him near the sound system.” With that, he shoved the screwdriver into the amp. Everyone covered their ears as a loud high pitch was emitted from the speakers. Finally the Santas fell and the Doctor let up. Looking around at everyone starting to pick themselves up, he spotted Lily sitting by the bar with her knees pulled tight to her chest, staring in front of her. Fears born of this morning came rushing to the front of his mind. He jumped over the table and rushed to her.

“Lily!” he called. He breathed a sigh of relief when she looked up at him.

“Sorry.” She said. “That’s the first time I’ve heard explosions since…” she trailed off. She looked down. “Sorry” she repeated.

He pulled her to him and hugged her tightly. “It’s fine. It’s understandable. You have nothing to be sorry for.” She returned his hug and they stood to see to the Santas.

Meanwhile, Donna was helping make sure everyone was alright. She slowly made her way through the crowd and over to The Doctor and Lily.

“Look at that.” He said when she arrived. “Remote control for the decorations.” He handed the controller to Lily to hold while he picked up the robot’s head. “But there’s a second remote control for the robots. They’re not just scavengers anymore, someone’s taken control.”

“Never mind all that.” Donna told him. “You’re a doctor-people have been hurt.”

The Doctor wasn’t paying attention. “Nah they didn’t want you hurt. See?” he throw one of the baubles at her. “Not active now.”

She caught it. “All the same, you could help.”

The Doctor put the head next to his ear.   “Think of the bigger picture,” he told her, “There’s still a signal!” He immediately ran off with Lily following behind him at a slower pace. After a moment, Donna moved to follow too, when her mother stopped her.

“Donna, who is he?” she asked. “Who is that man?”

Not having an answer, Donna just turned and followed them outside.

She found them outside.

“There’s someone behind this.” He was saying. “Directing the Robo-forms.”

“But why me?” she demanded. “What have I done?”

He was studying his screwdriver, “Find the controller, we’ll find that out.” Lily replied for him.

“Oh!” he exclaimed. He was pointing his screwdriver towards the sky. “It’s up there.”

“Something in the sky?” Lily asked looking up.

Suddenly he ran off then ran back. “I’ve lost the signal.” He told them.   He looked at Donna. “We’ve got to get to your office, H.C. Clemens. I think that’s where all this started.”   He looked around and spotted Lance.

“Lance! Lance, is it? Can you give me a lift?”

As Lance led them to his car, the Doctor pulled back to talk to a still subdued Lily.

“Are you alright?” he asked, giving her a worried look. She wasn’t saying much, just standing there with her arms wrapped around herself.

She looked up at him and smiled.  
“Yeah. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” She told him.

“Are you-“

She cut him off. “Doctor, you’ve got bigger things to worry about than me. If something’s wrong, I’ll tell you. Till then, Don’t. Worry.”

He nodded and they all got in Lance’s tiny car.

* * *

 

By the time they arrived at H.C. Clemens, Lily seemed much more like herself. They got out and raced up to Donna’s office.

“You lot might think this is just a locksmith.” He told them as they raced into the building, “But H.C. Clemens was brought up twenty-three years ago by The Torchwood Institute.”

“Who are they?” Donna asked as the Doctor sat down at her computer.

“They were behind the battle of-What was it, Doctor?” Lily asked as the Doctor typed something on the computer.

“Canary Warf.” He said, still typing. He looked up and saw Donna’s blank look.

“Cybermen invasion?”

Still looking confused, he elaborated. “Skies over London, full of Daleks?”

“I was in Spain.” She told him.

“They had Cybermen in Spain.” He told her slowly.

“I was scuba diving.” She said, as if this cleared it all up.

Both Lily and the Doctor just stared at her. Finally Lily finally responded.

“Geez, Donna, that big picture, you just keep missing it.” She told the older woman.

“Torchwood was destroyed,” the Doctor said, plowing on, “But H.C. Clemens stayed in business.” He ran to another computer. “I think someone else came in and took over the operation.” He hit the computer when it didn’t do what he wanted it to do.

“You know that doesn’t work with the TARDIS,” Lily told him, “so what makes you think it going to help now?”

“But what do they want with me?” Donna asked.

The Doctor stood. “Somehow, you’ve been dosed with Huon energy.” He told her. “And that’s a problem because Huon energy hasn’t been existed since The Dark Times. The only version of a Huon particle is a remnant in the heart of the TARDIS. See that’s what happened.”

He picked up a mug and a pencil.

“Say that’s the TARDIS.” He told her, holding up the mug. “And that’s you.” He lifted the pencil. “The particles activated inside of you. The two sets of particles magnetized and WHAP.” He put the pencil inside the mug. “You were pulled inside the TARDIS.”

“I’m a pencil inside a mug?” Donna asked weakly.

“Yes you are. 4H. Sums you up.” He replied.

Lily gave him a look. “We have got to work on your analogies when this is all over.” She told him.

The Doctor moved on. “Lance? What was H.C. Clemens working on?” he asked. “Anything top secret? Special operations? Do not enter?” he moved to another computer and used the sonic screwdriver on it.

“I don’t know.” Lance told him. “I’m in charge of personal. I wasn’t project manager.” Suddenly he got defensive. “Why am I even explaining myself to you? What the hell are we talking about?”

“You make keys. That’s the point.” Lily said, reading over the Doctor’s shoulder.

“And look at this.” The Doctor said. “We’re on the third floor, underneath reception, there’s a basement yes?” They moved to the elevator. When the doors opened, the Doctor moved to the button panel. “So how come, on the lift, there’s a button marked ‘lower basement’?” he asked.

“There’s a whole floor not on the official plans?” Lily asked.

“Yep.”

“Cool.”

The Doctor nodded. “The question becomes: so what’s down there?”

“Are you telling me this building has got a secret floor?” Lance asked.

“No, I’m showing you this building has a secret floor.” The Doctor told him, while Lily just looked at him like he was an idiot.

“It needs a key.” Donna pointed out.

“I don’t.” he told her, pointing the screwdriver at it. “Alright, thanks you two, we can handle it from here.”

“No way, Martian.” Donna said moving on to the lift. “You two keep saving my life, I ain’t letting you out of my sight.”

Lance hesitated. “Maybe I should go to the police.” He said.

Donna just gave him a look and said “Inside”.

He meekly got in.

“To honor and obey?” the Doctor asked.

“Tell me about it, mate.” Lance replied.

“Oi!” Donna exclaimed, while Lily just hit the Doctor upside the head.

The doors closed and they were on their way.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: *announcer voice* Lily’s getting worse as time goes on and the Doctor’s worried. So what will happen? Find out next time on: Never Gonna Be Alone.
> 
> Abbey


	11. The Runaway Bride - It's Under What?!

Disclaimer: I have no witty things to say for this chapter. My grief is just too much. David’s leaving has broken me. Suffice to say, Doctor Who will never be mine.

Ch.11: The Runaway Bride-It’s Under What!

They arrived in damp looking corridors that seem to go on forever.

“Where are we?” Donna asked. “What goes on down here?”

“Creepy water dripping: Check. Bad lighting: Check. Multiple Doors: Check.” Lily said, looking deep in thought. “Yep, it’s a secret lair! All we’re missing is the bad creepy music.”

The Doctor smiled, glad to see she was back making bad jokes.

“Shut up.”

“Ok.”

He turned to Donna and answered her question.

“Let’s find out.”

“Do you think Mr. Clemens knows about this place?” she asked him.

“The mysterious H.C. Clemens? Oh I think he’s part of it.” He told her.

Lily had wandered off a bit.

“Oh Doctor!”

When he turned to look at her, she pointed.

“Look! I provide transport.”

* * *

 

They glided down the corridor on motorized scooters. Lily was doing her very best to not laugh simply by not looking at anyone, but when she heard Donna start to laugh, that was it. Within a few seconds, Donna, the Doctor, and Lily were laughing their heads off while Lance looked at them like they were crazy.

Finally they came across a door marked “TORCHWOOD: AUTHORIZED PERSONAL ONLY”. Of course that was the door the Doctor wanted to go through. When he finally got it open they looked in and saw a ladder leading up to a hatch.

“Wait here.” He told them. “I just need to get my bearings.” He pointed at Lily. “Don’t do anything!”

“What would I possibly do?” she asked him.

“You better come back.” Donna told him.

He smirked at her. “Couldn’t get rid of you if I tried.”

He had begun to climb, when Lily called to him.

“Be careful.” She told him seriously.

He smiled “I always am.” He told her and continued climbing.

When he reached the top, he opened the hatch and found himself looking out over the Thames.

He jumped back down.

“Thames flood barrier.” He told them

“We’re underneath the Thames flood barrier?” Lily asked him incredulously.

“Yep” he replied. “Torchwood snuck in and built this place underneath.”

“What, there’s like a secret base hidden under a major London land mark?” Donna asked.

“I know.” He replied. “Unheard of.”

Lily chuckled as she remember that in both universes, the Nestene had had it’s base under the London Eye.

The Doctor walked off and they followed.

* * *

 

They soon found themselves in a laboratory. Donna and Lily looked around in wonder and Lance brought up the rear. The Doctor looked like a kid in a candy shop.

“Ooo! Look at this!” he called, walking up the bubbling…thing. “Stunning!”

“Oh yes. Stunning.” Lily told him. “But what does it do?”

He looked at her with a disapproving air. “And you call yourself a Time Lady.”

She glared at him. “No, I call myself a human who was changed from a Time Lord twenty years ago, so give me a break.” She thought for a second. “Also I would never call myself a Time Lady.”

He looked at her curiously. “Why not?”

She shrugged, “It sounds…I don’t know…too misogynistic?”

He stared at her. He was opening his mouth to respond, when Donna interrupted.

“I don’t know what the two of you are going on about, but can we get back to the matter at hand?” When they looked appropriately sheepish, she continued. “What does it do?”

“Particle extrusion.” He replied. “Hold up.” He ran to one of the tubes and tapped it. “Brilliant. They’ve been manufacturing Huon particles. In case my people got rid of Huons, they unraveled the atomic structure.”

“Your people?” Lance asked. “Who are they? What company do you represent?” Lily went back to staring at him like he was an idiot.

“Oh I’m a freelancer.” He answered vaguely. “But this lot are rebuilding them. They’ve been using the river!   Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result - Huon particles in liquid form.” He picked up a test tube.

“And that’s what I’ve got inside of me?” Donna asked.

The Doctor turned a knob at the top of the test tube and held it close to Donna. Both she and the tube began to glow.

“Oh my god.”

The Doctor turned the knob back and the glow stopped.

“Genius. Because the particles are inert - they need something living to catalyse inside and that's you. Saturate the body and then... HA!” he suddenly yelled causing Donna and Lily to jump. “The wedding! Yes, you're getting married, that's _it!_ Best day of your life, walking down the aisle - oh, your body's a battleground! There's a chemical war inside! Adrenaline, acetylcholine, WHAM go the endorphins, oh you're cooking! Yeah, you're like a walking oven! A pressure cooker, a microwave, all churning away, the particles reach boiling point, SHAZAM-“ he broke off.

Donna had slapped him again.

“What did I do this time?!”

Lily decided to answer this one. “The explanation at five hundred miles a second made me want to hit you, but I think it was your comparison of her to the pressure cooker that did it for her.”

“Are you enjoying this?” Donna asked them. They both seemed to shrink, and she continued. “Right, just tell me. These particles, are they dangerous? Am I safe?”

“Yes.” The Doctor told her, obviously lying.

“Doctor.” She looked at him. “If you’re lot got rid of Huon particles, why did they do that?”

He looked at her seriously. “Because they were deadly.”

As Donna let out a cry, Lily came up and wrapped her in a hug.

“He’ll sort it out.” She told her.

The Doctor nodded. “I promise you, whatever’s been done to you, I’ll reverse it. I am not about to lose someone else.”

Lily pulled away, and went to stand next to the Doctor. Leaning close she whispered,

“Doctor, I told her once before that you would save her.” She told him. “Please don’t make a liar out of me again.”

He briefly grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly, nodding.

She nodded and he let go. Suddenly there was a loud hissing noise.

“Oh she is long since lost.”

They all looked around, trying to identify where the voice was coming from. With a loud noise, the wall in front of them began to move.

“I have waited so long.” The voice continued. “Hibernating at the edge of the universe…”

Unnoticed by the rest of them, Lance slipped out the door.

“…Until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken.”

The Doctor, Lily, and Donna found themselves at gun point.

“Oh my day was not complete till now.” Lily muttered.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Here come the Raccnos. That’s should be a song. So as always, everyone, please review.
> 
> Abbey


	12. The Runaway Bride - Why?

Disclaimer: When I own the Doctor, my life will be complete. Till then, my only solace is fan fiction.

Ch.12: The Runaway Bride-Why?

Seeing that they weren’t going to shoot on sight, the Doctor walked forward.

“Um, Doctor?” Lily said, following behind. “That’s a really big hole.”

“Yes it is.” He walked to the edge. “Oh very Torchwood. Drilled by laser?” he asked. “How far down does it go?”

“Down and down.” The mysterious voice replied.

“And down and down, where it stops, nobody knows.” Lily interrupted in a singsong voice.

“All the way to the center of the Earth.” The voice continued.

“Of course it does.” Lily continued.

“Really?” the Doctor asked. “Seriously, what for?”

“Dinosaurs.” Donna told him.

Both Lily and the Doctor stared at her.

“What?” he asked

“That film, _Under the Earth_ , with Dinosaurs.” She told him. They just kept staring. “Trying to help.”

“You’re not helping.” He replied.

“No I’m with her.” Lily said. He stared at her in shock. “What? That’d be cool.”

“What a sweet couple.” The voice said.

The Doctor turned around. “Only a madman talks to thin air, and, trust me, you don’t want to make me mad.” He yelled. “Where are you?”

“Maybe she’s in the hole.” Lily muttered.

“High in the sky.” The voice told them. “Floating so high on Christmas night.”

“I didn’t come all this way to talk on the intercom.” He called. “Come on! Let’s have a look at you”

“Who are you, with such commands?” the voice asked.

“Besides the most bossy person in the universe?” Lily quipped.

“I’m the Doctor.” He said over Lily.

“Prepare your best medicines, Doctor Man.” The voice told him. “For soon you will be sick at heart.”

“Seriously?” Lily wanted to know. “What is this? A B Movie Spy film?”

The Doctor just hushed her.

Suddenly, there was a bright light and a giant half-humanoid, half-spider…thing appeared.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Lily screamed, running behind the Doctor, causing both the Doctor and Donna to jump out of their skins.

“What’s wrong?” The Doctor asked trying to comfort her without turning his back on the newcomer.

Lily was muttering. “Raid. Lots and lots of Raid. Galleons of it. Drown it in Raid.”

“Lily, what is going on?”

Lily glared at him. “I _hate_ spiders.” She told him, vehemently.

He stared at her. “Really?” he told her sarcastically. “I would have never guessed.”

He turned back to the thing. “Racnoss.” He said. “That’s impossible. You’re one of the Racnoss.” He called, disbelieving.  

“Empress of the Racnoss.” She corrected.

“Does this kill the bug spray idea?” Lily wanted to know.

“If you’re the empress,” the Doctor asked, “where are the rest of the Racnoss? OR,” he continued on, “are you the only one?”

“Such a sharp mind.” The Empress replied in answer.

“You wouldn’t think that if you watched him drive.” Lily muttered, still standing behind the Doctor. He reached behind him and swatted her.

“That’s it. Last of your kind.” He said to her. “The Racnoss come from the Dark Times.” He told Lily and Donna. “Billions and Billions of years ago. They were carnivores, omnivores. They devoured whole planets.”

“Racnoss are born starving.” The Empress interrupted. “Is that our fault?”

“Ever heard of something called ‘control’” Lily called from safely behind the Doctor, not about to abandon her barrier between her and the dreaded spider thing. “How ‘bout ‘moderation’?”

“They eat people?” Donna asked, disgusted.

“Umm, Donna?” Lily asked. “H.C. Clemens, did he where those black and white things on his shoes?”

“He did!” she replied. “We used to laugh. We used to call him the fat cat in spats.”

The Doctor just nodded and pointed.

“Oh my God.” She yelled, spotting the shoes in the webbing on the ceiling.

“My Christmas Dinner.” The Empress said.

“How about a shoe? Got a giant shoe anywhere?” Lily asked.

“I’m with her.” Donna agreed.

The Doctor just ignored them. “You shouldn’t even exist.” He told the Empress. “Way back in history, the Fledgling Empires went to war with the Racnoss,” He said, continuing his history lesson for Lily and Donna. “They were wiped out.”

“Except for me.”

While this was all going on, Donna had spotted Lance climbing up behind the Empress. When she spotted the ax, she tried to keep the focus on her.

“And that’s what I’ve got inside me? That Huon energy?” she called. “Oi look at me, Lady.” She yelled when the Empress tried to turn away. “I’m talking. Where do I fit in?” she wanted to know. “How come I get all stacked up with these Huon particles?” Lance was getting closer. “Look at me, you! Look me in the eye and tell me!”

“The Bride is so feisty!”

“Damn straight she is.” Lily muttered, finally edging out from behind the Doctor, but grabbing his hand and holding it firmly. She really, really didn’t like spiders.

“Yes I am.” Donna agreed. “And I don’t know what you are, you big thing.” By now both Lily and the Doctor had noticed Lance. “But a spider is just a spider, and an ax is a ax. Now do it!” She yelled.

Lance raised the ax just as the Empress turned and spotted him. He didn’t move. Then he turned to them and started to laugh.

“That was a good one.” He said pointing to the Empress. “Your face.”

“Lance is funny.” The Empress told them.

“What?” Donna asked, confused. Lily let go of the Doctor’s hand and took hold of Donna’s.

“I’m sorry.” She said.

“Sorry for what?” Donna asked, still confused. “Lance, don’t be so stupid. Get her!”  
“God she’s thick.” Lance said with a sneer.

“Hey, shut the hell up, you asshole.” Lily told him, fury evident on her face.

“Months I’ve had to put up with her.” He continued, unfazed by Lily’s outburst. “Months! A woman who can’t even point to Germany on a map.”

“I don’t understand.” Donna said softly.

“How did you meet him?” Lily asked her just as softly.

“In the office.” She replied.

“He made you coffee.” The Doctor told her.

“What?” she asked, uncomprehending.

“Every day, I made you coffee.” Lance said slowly, as if to an idiot.

“You had to be dosed with liquid particles over six months.” The Doctor told her, ignoring Lance.

“He was poisoning me?” Donna asked, looking between the Doctor and Lily.

“It was all there in the job title.” He told her.

“The Head of Human Resources.” Lily said disgustedly.

“This time-it’s personnel.” Lance quipped. Both he and the Empress laughed, while the Doctor held Lily back.

“I could end this now.” She told him softly.

He looked down, into her eyes and asked, “Without losing control?”

She looked down. When he was sure she wasn’t going to try to attack again, he let go.

“But…we were getting married.” Donna said. Lily walked over and wrapped her arm around the older woman, but Donna didn’t seem to notice.

“Well, I couldn't risk you running off.” He told her cruelly. “I _had_ to say yes. And then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavour Pringle. Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap yap yap - "oh, Brad and Angelina - is Posh pregnant?" X Factor, Atkins Diet, Feng Shui, split ends, text me, text me, text me, dear God, the never ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia.” He got an ugly look on his face. “I deserve a medal.”

Lily opened he mouth to tear into the jerk, but the Doctor got there first.

“Oh is that what she’s offered you, the Empress of the Racnoss?” he asked with a sneer. “What are you? Her consort?”

Lance just smirked. “It’s better than a night with her.”

Donna looked as if someone had punched her. “But I love you.”

Lance just kept smirking. “That's what made it easy. It's like you said, Doctor - the big picture - what's the point of it all if the Human Race is nothing? That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to... go out there. To see it. The size of it all. I think you understand that, don't you, Doctor?”

“You unmitigated jackass.” Lily told him. “No matter what you do, you will always be a little pathetic man, with nothing to offer anyone.” Fury rang with every word. “You will never be more than a sniveling lap dog to a disgusting parasite. And for that I pity you.”

“Who are this annoying she-human and the little physician?” The Empress asked.

“What she said-Martian.” He answered.

“Oh, we’re sort of... homeless.” The Doctor answered. “ But the point is, what's down here? The Racnoss are extinct. What's gonna help you four thousand miles down? That's just the molten core of the Earth, isn't it?” he asked.

“I think he wants us to talk.” Lance said.

“I think so too.” The Empress replied.

“Well tough,” Lance sneered. “All we need is Donna.”

“Over my dead body.” Lily told him, gearing up for a fight. No way was she going to let this bastard touch her friend.

“Kill this little doctor man and his annoying girl-friend.” The Empress ordered.

“Don’t you hurt them!” Donna yelled moving in front of them.

“No. No, it’s alright.” The Doctor said.

“No I won’t let ‘em.” She said.

“At arms.” The Empress called, and all the Robots raised their guns.

“Ah now. Except,” the Doctor called.

“Take aim.” The Empress continued.

“Well I just want to point out the obvious,” the Doctor tried again.

“They won’t hit the bride,” the Empress told him. “They’re such very good shots.”

“Just-- just-- just-- hold on, just a tick, just a tiny-- just a little-- tick. If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So,” he reached inside his pocket, “reverse it... the spaceship comes to her.”

He turned the knob on the end of the test tube and it started to glow. The robots fired but Donna, Lily and the Doctor were already safely inside the TARDIS. They looked around.

“Off we go.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Lily’s a little pissed at the treatment of her friend. She really wanted to kill Lance, but I decided being eaten alive sucked worse. Anyway, feedback please.
> 
> Abbey


	13. The Runaway Bride - In the Beginning

Disclaimer: I don’t own Doctor Who. *silence*…*hysterical, uncontrollable sobs*

Ch.13: The Runaway Bride-In the Beginning

The Doctor ran to the counsel and started pushing buttons.

“Oh you know what I said earlier about time machines?” he asked. “Well I lied.” He flipped a switch. “And now we’re gonna use it. We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. Something’s buried at the planets core, it must've been there since the beginning. That's just _brilliant_. Molto bene! I've always wanted to see this. Donna - we're going further back than I've ever been before.”

Lily just let him ramble, knowing that that was how he handled things. In the meantime, she helped Donna to the jump seat. When Donna shoulders began to shake with silent sobs, Lily pulled her to her and held her while the woman cried. The Doctor glanced over and stopped talking when he saw that Donna needed a moment. Silence reigned in the TARDIS while Lily let Donna cry herself out on her shoulder. Finally the red head’s tears slowed and she pulled away.

“Better now?” Lily asked softly, feeling for the first time that she might have a chance at getting her old friend back.

Donna nodded and smiled weakly. “Thanks.”

Lily smiled in return. “What are friends for?”

The Doctor watched them smiling to himself. “We’ve arrived.” He told them. “Wanna see?”

Donna shrugged. “Suppose.”

The Doctor moved the monitor around and considered it.

“That scanner’s a bit small.” He finally concluded. “Maybe your way’s better.”

He walked to the TARDIS doors and threw them open. Lily smiled at his behavior and got up, pulling Donna with her.

“Come on.” She told her. “When he’s acting this childish, it usually means whatever it is, it’s worth seeing.”

“Hey, no human’s ever seen this!” he pouted, looking put out by their lack of enthusiasm. “You two will be the first.” He looked at Lily, “Well Donna will be. I don’t know how to classify you. You’re human, but you’re not.” He glared at her. “This whole ‘Time Lord turned Human’ thing is very annoying.”

She glared right back at him. “You certainly know how to make a girl feel great about herself.” She told him. “You know what else is annoying?”

“What?”

“You.” With that she walked right past him to the open doors.

“All I want to see’s my bed.” Donna told him.

Both she and Lily stood in awe of the sight before them.

“Donna Noble, Lily Carter, welcome to the creation of The Earth.”

He stood back, entirely too pleased with himself.

Before them glowed a newly formed Sun, and around them were a multitude of rocks and gasses.

“We’ve gone back 4.6 billion years.” He told them. “There’s no solar system, not yet. Only rocks, and dust, and gas.” He pointed. “That’s the Sun over there, brand new. Just beginning to burn.”

“Where’s the Earth?” Donna asked.

“All around us.” Lily answered, beating the Doctor to it. “In the dust.”

“Puts the wedding in perspective. Lance was right. We're just... _tiny_.” She said.

“No.” Lily said immediately. “Nothing he said was right. Humans…you’re anything but tiny. You never accept the limits people put on you. You break them by making sense out of chaos with little things, like birthdays and weddings and Christmas and calendars. The whole process is beautiful. But only when it’s being observed.”

Donna thought about what she said.

“So I came out of all this?” she asked, motioning to the debris around them.

“Isn’t it brilliant?” the Doctor answered, grinning.

Donna spotted a larger bit of rock.

“I think that’s the isle of Wright.” She told them. Lily was glad to see her joke.

“Eventually, gravity takes hold.” The Doctor told them. “Say, one big rock, heavier than the others, starts to pull other rocks towards it. All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in, everything, piling in until you get the...”

“Earth.” Donna finished.

“But, the question is…” the Doctor started.

“What became the first rock?” Lily ended.

And star shaped ship emerged from the gasses.

“Look!” Donna said, pointing.

“The Racnoss.” The Doctor whispered. He ran back to the console.

“Hang on.” Lily said. “What are they doing? Shouldn’t they be hiding from the war?”

“They’re doing exactly what you said.” Donna told them.

“Oh, they didn't just _bury_ something at the centre of the Earth... they _became_ the centre of the Earth. The first rock.” He exclaimed.

Suddenly the TARDIS shuttered.

“What was that?” Donna asked.

The Doctor walked back to the doors. “Trouble.” He slammed them shut.

Donna and Lily followed him back.

“You know she’s really not happy now, right?” Lily asked him.

“Yes I know.” He told her crossly.

“I mean first Donna gets dragged on board. Then you make her fly down a high way. Then you drag her to Donna.   And now she’s being dragged back?” she asked him.

“I know, Lily.”

“All I’m saying is, she’s getting kind of annoyed.” She told him with a shrug.

He stared at her. “You do realize I can hear my own ship, right?” he asked her. “I don’t need you to translate.”

Lily smiled. “Tell her that.”

“What the hell is going on?” Donna wanted to know. By now, the trip was getting kind of violent.

“Remember that little trick I pulled - particles pulling particles?” he asked her. “It works in reverse - they're pulling us back!”

“Well, can't you stop it? Hasn't it got a handbrake? Can't you reverse or warp or beam or something?” she demanded.

“Great.” He muttered. “Another backseat driver.”

Lily whacked him on the head as she passed, helping him keep the TARDIS steady.

“Oh!” he yelled. He reached below and pulled something out. “The extrapolator!”   He set it in front of him. “Can’t stop us, but it should give us a bump.” He looked at Lily. “Get over here and help.” He told her.

The TARDIS rematerialized as they were finishing up setting it up. The Doctor got out his favorite tool.

“Now!” he said as he whacked the extrapolator with his mallet and Lily pressed the necessary buttons.

The TARDIS dematerialized and rematerialized in a corridor.

“We’re about 200 yards to the right.” He told them. Grabbing Lily and Donna’s hand, they ran.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: We’re coming into the home stretch for this episode. Please review!
> 
> Abbey


	14. The Runaway Bride - Merry Christmas

Disclaimer: Ok, question time. Why in God’s name would I be writing fan fiction to correct a plot that I owned? Come on people.

Ch.14: The Runaway Bride-Merry Christmas

They ran back to the door that led to the top of the flood barrier. The Doctor pulled out his stethoscope and put it against the door, listening intently.

“But what are we going to do?” Donna puffed out, not as used to all the running as Lily and the Doctor were.

“Oh please, like he knows.” Lily scoffed. The Doctor turned and glared at her, offended.   “What?” she responded. “Like you ever have a plan. You just make it up as you go. History has proven that.” He thought about it for a second, then shrugged. She had a point.

He went back to listening.

“But I still don’t understand.” Donna continued. “I’m full of particles-but what for?”

“There's a Racnoss web at the centre of the Earth, but my people unraveled their power source.” He told her. “The Huon particles ceased to exist but the Racnoss are stuck.”

Unnoticed by Lily and the Doctor, a Robot came up behind them. He grabbed Donna from behind, putting a hand over her mouth so she couldn’t scream, and dragged her away.

“They've just been in hibernation for billions of years.” The Doctor continued, unaware Donna was gone. “Frozen. Dead. Kaput! So you're the new key. Brand new particles, living particles! They need you to open it and…” he trailed off, realizing something wasn’t right. He looked at Lily.

“Donna, you have never been so quiet.” She said, cringing. Both she and the Doctor turned and found Donna missing. They looked at each other.

“You were supposed to be watching her!” The Doctor said, pointing accusingly at Lily.

“Shut up.”

They ran off.

* * *

 

Donna was looking really pissed again. She was stuck to the ceiling next to the man, that at the moment, she hated more than anyone else on the planet.

“I hate you.” She told him.

He gave her a look of disbelief.

“Yeah, I think we’ve gone a bit passed that now, sweetheart.”

“ My golden couple. Together at last - your awful wedded life. Tell me; do you want to be released?” The Empress asked.

“Yes!” they both yelled, finally agreeing on something.

“You’re supposed to say, I do.” The Empress told them reproachfully.

“Ha! No chance.” Lance told her.

“Say it!” the Empress demanded.

Lance glanced at Donna and said, grudgingly “I do.”

Donna didn’t even bother looking at him. “I do.”

“I don’t!” The Empress told them, obviously thinking she was the height of funny. “Activate the particles!” she called. “Purge every last one!”

Donna and Lance both began to glow.

“And release!”

The gold glow seemed to separated it’s self from them and fall into the hole.

“The secret heart unlocks.” She told them. “And they will awaken from their sleep of ages.”

“Who will?” Donna asked. “What’s down there?”

“How thick are you?” Lance asked.

“My children, the long lost Racnoss.” The Empress proclaimed. “Now will be born to feast on flesh.”

From far below, they could hear chirping and skittering, coming closer with every second.

“The web star shall come to me.” She called. “My babies will be hungry. They need sustenance. Perish the web.”

Lance started to panic. “Use her!” he yelled. “Not me! Use her!”

The Empress just laughed at him. “Oh, my funny little Lance! But you are quite impolite to your lady-friend. The Empress does not approve.”

With that, the web loosened. Donna could only watch in horror as he fell.

“Harvest the humans!” The Empress called. “Reduce them to meat”

“My children are climbing towards me and none shall stop them!” She hissed, turning to one of the robots. “So you might as well unmask, my clever little doctor-man.”

The Doctor removed his mask and cloak, while Lily moved out of the shadows.

“Oh well.” He said, dropping both items. “Nice try.” He turned his attention to Donna. “I’ve got you, Donna.” He pointed the sonic screwdriver at her and the web loosened.

“I’m gonna fall!” she screamed.

“Correction:” Lily called. “You’re gonna swing.”

Sure enough, she swung over the hole towards the Doctor’s out stretched arms.

“I’ve got ya!” he called. Lily cringed as Donna hit the wall right below them. “…oh. Sorry.”

They looked down and saw her laying spread eagle on the floor below them.

“Thanks for nothing.” She called up to them.

“You’re welcome!” Lily called back cheerfully.

The Empress laughed. “The Doctor-man amuses me.”

“Empress of the Racnoss - I give you one last chance.” He told her. “I can find you a planet. I can find you a place in the universe to coexist. Take that offer and end this now.”

“These men are so funny.” The Empress responded.

“What is your answer?” he demanded.

“Oh,” she told him. “I’m afraid I have to decline.”

“You really should have taken his offer.” Lily told her, leaning casually over the railing, ready to watch the show. “What happens next is your own doing.”

“I’ll show you what happens next.” The Empress hissed. “At arms!” she called. All the Robots raised their guns. “Take aim! And-“

“Relax.” The Doctor said quietly. The Robots did just that.

“What did you do?” Donna asked.

“Guess what he’s got.” Lily answered in a deadly quiet voice.

The Doctor pulled out the remote and showed it to her. “Pockets.” He finished.

“How did that fit in there?” she asked.

Lily grinned. “They’re bigger on the inside.”

“Robo-forms are not necessary.” The Empress screeched. “My children may feast on Martian flesh.”

“Oh, but we’re not from Mars.” He told her, in the same deadly voice Lily had used.

“Then where?” The Empress hissed.

“Our home planet is far away and long-since gone. But its name lives on. Gallifrey.” He told her.

That was when she really lost it.

“They _murdered_ the Racnoss!” she screamed.

“We warned you.” Lily told her. “You did this.”

The Doctor pulled out some of the ornaments from earlier. He didn’t even seem to hear her as she begged for him to stop. He threw them in the air. For a second, they hovered there, but then some went and fell in the hole, while others surrounded the Empress. Still others blew a hole in the wall, allowing tons and tons of water to flow in.

“My children!” the Empress screamed as they were wiped out by the floods.

The Doctor and Lily just stood there, impassively as the last of the Racnoss were drowned.

“Doctor.” Donna called. Getting no response, she tried again. “Lily. You can stop now.”

Neither seemed to register what she had said for a long moment. Finally the Doctor looked at Donna.

“Come on.” He called. “Time I got you out.”

He looked at Lily, who still hadn’t moved. He grabbed her hand and made her look at him.

“Time to go, Lily girl.”

She nodded and let him lead her out.

They ran down the hall, back to the door leading to the flood barrier.

“But what about the Empress?” Donna wanted to know.

“She used up all her Huon energy.” He told her as they climbed. “She’s defenseless.”

They reached the top and the Doctor helped first Donna out and then Lily. He held Lily as she shook and they watched as the Empress’s ship was blown from existence.

“There’s just one problem.” Donna told them, looking around.

“What’s that?” the Doctor asked, not taking his eyes from the sight in the sky.

“We’ve drained the Thames.” She said.

That was all it took. Lily collapsed in hysterical laughter, with the other two not far behind.

* * *

 

The TARDIS rematerialized right outside Donna’s house. Donna and the Doctor stepped out, while Lily stood leaning in the door way.

“There we go.” The Doctor said, patting the TARDIS fondly. “Told you she’d be alright. She can survive anything.”

“See one day she’s not going to and you’re gonna be sorry you said that.” Lily told him sagely. He just swatted her.

“More than I’ve done.” Donna told them sadly.

The Doctor reached into his jacket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. He scanned her and nodded.

“Nope! All the Huon particles have gone.” He told her. “No damage. You’re fine.”

Donna just shook her head. “Yeah, but apart from that... I missed my wedding, lost my job and became a widow on the same day. Sort of.” She told them.

Lily walked over and wrapped the woman in a hug, and was surprised when she returned it.

“I couldn’t save him.” The Doctor told her sadly.

“He deserved it.” She replied from over Lily’s shoulder.

Lily pulled back and gave her a look.

“No he didn’t” she relented.

Lily pulled all the way back and went to stand with the Doctor. Donna glanced back at her house.

“I’d better get inside.” She told them. “They’ll be worried.”

“Best Christmas present they could get.” The Doctor told her.

They looked at the house and saw Donna’s Dad embrace her mother.

“Oh that’s right.” The Doctor said. “You hate Christmas.”

“Yes I do.” Donna agreed.

“Even if it snows?” Lily asked, exchanging a look with the Doctor. He reached inside the TARDIS and flipped a switch. A light shot in the air and suddenly it began to snow.

Donna laughed with delight. “I can’t believe you did that!”

The Doctor smiled. “Oh, basic atmospheric excitation.” He said, trying to act casual. Lily poked him and he grinned. Donna returned it.

“Merry Christmas.” She told them.

“What are you going to do now?” Lily asked.

“Not getting married for starters.” She told them. “And I'm not gonna temp anymore. I dunno... travel... see a bit more of planet Earth... walk in the dust. Just... go out there and _do_ something.”

The Doctor looked at Lily and saw her nod in answer to his unspoken question.

“Well you could always…” he began.

“What?” she asked.

“…come with us…”

Donna smiled.

“No.”

“Okay.” The Doctor said quickly, trying to hide the sting. Lily, on the other hand, smiled widely.

“I can’t.” Donna told them.

“That’s fine.” Lily told her, still smiling.

“No, but really...” she asked “everything we did today... do you live your life like that?”

“No.” the Doctor answered, while Lily answered “Yes.” They looked at each other and Lily relented.

“Not all the time.”

“I think you do.” She told them. “And I couldn’t.”

“But you’ve seen it out there.” The Doctor said. “It’s beautiful.”

“And it's terrible.” She countered. “That place was flooding and burning and they were dying and you two stood there like... I don't know... strangers. And then you made it snow!” she pointed accusingly at the Doctor. “I mean, you scare me to death!”

They stood there in silence.

“Well then.” The Doctor finally said.

“Tell you what I will do though,” she told them. “Christmas dinner. Oh come on then.” She said when she saw them hesitating.

“I don’t do that sort of thing.” The Doctor told her.

“You did last year. You said so.” She said. “And you might as well. Mum always cooks enough for twenty.”

After a moment of trying to come up with an excuse, the Doctor finally gave in.

“Oh, all right then.” He told her, beginning to usher Lily back in. “But you go first, better warn them. And... don't say I'm a Martian.I just have to park her properly,” he told her, motioning to the TARDIS. “She might drift off to the Middle Ages. I'll see you in a minute.” He closed the doors behind him. Donna started to walk off when she heard the engines start.

“Doctor!” she yelled. “DOCTOR!”

The doors opened again.

“Blimey, she can shout.” The Doctor said to Lily, who just grinned.

“Am I ever gonna see you two again?” Donna asked.

Lily walked back out and wrapped her new/old friend in a tight hug.

“If we’re lucky.” The Doctor answered as Lily pulled away.

Donna held on a second longer, looking between the Doctor and Lily.

“Just promise me one thing…” she told them. “Find someone.”

“We don’t need anyone.” Lily told her with a forced smirk.

“Yeah you do.” Donna told her seriously. “Because, sometimes, I think you need someone to stop you.” She held the Doctor’s gaze and then pulled Lily back into a hug.

“Yeah.” Lily whispered.

“Thanks then, Donna.” The Doctor said as Lily walked back. “Good luck. And just be- magnificent.”

Donna smiled. “Yeah, I think I will.”

The Doctor was pulling the doors shut again when she called his name.

“Oh, what is it now?”

“That friend of yours-“ she asked. “What was her name?”

Lily grabbed his hand. He looked back at her and then looked back at Donna.

“Her name was Rose.” He told her.

She nodded and he closed the doors.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: That’s it for the Runaway Bride folks. My God that was hard work. Now don’t let it go to waste. REVIEW!!!!!!!
> 
> Abbey


	15. Echoes of Pain

Disclaimer: I have just spotted the rare and elusive Doctoris Whous. Watch as it relaxes in it natural habitat, the BBC. Many have tried to capture this beautiful creature, but to date no one has succeeded. Now watch as the ruthless Stevenis Moffattis tries to destroy this gentle creature.

Ch. 15: Echoes of Pain

Lily and the Doctor walked up the ramp.

“What are you smiling about?” he asked her.

She turned and grinned at him. “When we started today, that Donna couldn’t have been further from my Donna if she had tried. She was selfish, petty, bitchy, and lazy. But the Donna we just left?” If possible, her grin got bigger. “She was on her way to being the woman who I loved and who became my best friend after the Doctor.” She shook her head. “It just showed me that maybe things aren’t as different as I thought.”

The Doctor smiled and pulled her into a hug. They stood in silence, until the Doctor let out a sigh of relief.

“What?” Lily asked, looking up at him.

He looked down at her, all seriousness. “I’m really glad she didn’t come with us.” He said solemnly.

“What?!” Lily shouted, pulling away and looking outraged.

He grinned at her. “I never could have handled two of you!”

She stood there in shock for a second and then lunged at him. He dodged her and ran around the console. She ran after him as he sprinted out of the control room.

“Come back here!” she yelled.

The TARDIS sighed, contently.

* * *

 

The next few days were spent in the Vortex trying to repair some of the damage done during the flight down the highway. As the Doctor worked, he began to realize something wasn’t right. All through the fiasco with the Empress, Lily had had bad moments, but she seemed to get past them. Now she was withdrawing, only speaking when spoken to and even then only with one word answers when she could get away with it. She would every once in awhile say something like her normal self, but then she would quickly fall back.

_She’s in pain._ The TARDIS told him when he asked. _She isn’t sleeping and she isn’t eating. If you don’t do something soon, she’s going to hurt herself._

With no option left, he went looking for her. With the TARDIS’s help, he found her in the music room. When he walked in, she looked up with a smile that was obviously forced.

“What’s up?” she asked. He could tell she was only asking because she thought she should. She turned back to the book case.

“Lily…” he began but trailed off, not knowing where to start.

She turned back and the fake smile quickly fell away when she saw his face.

“We need to talk.” He finally said.

She turned away, making herself busy.

“About what?”

He moved closer. “I think you know what.” When she didn’t say anything, he tried again. “We need to talk about what happened when you saw Donna.”

“I was surprised.” She told him. “That’s all.”

“You nearly lost control.”

She turned and glared at him. “I was surprised.” She repeated coldly and turned back around. “It won’t happen again.”

“Yes it will!” he shot back. “The longer you suppress them, the stronger the memories become.” He told her. “What happens next time? Huh? What happens when you can’t stop them? What happens when I’m not there to help?” He moved to stand behind her. She felt him move and turned so they were face to face, just inches apart.

“What do you want me to say?” she yelled at him. “That I’m terrified of my ‘abilities’? That every time I looked at Donna, I saw her blood as it stained my hands? That I’m afraid to sleep because when I close my eyes, I see the faces of my friends that **_I_** let die? That every morning I look for the man I love and when I remember he’s gone, I want to join them? That I hate myself because I’m alive and they’re dead? Is that what you wanted to hear?” She screamed till she was horse.

Seeing that she was in the midst of a long overdue break down, he pulled her into his arms. At first she fought him. Beating her fists against his chest, but he just held her tighter. Finally she stopped fighting and let the sobs overcome her. When she had calmed a little, he began to talk in a low, soothing voice.

“I want to help you.” He whispered as he held her. “I want you to let me in. I’ve been where you are. I know the way out.”

Seeing she was still resisting, he tried a new approach.

_Help me help her._ He appealed to the TARDIS silently.

Picking up where her Time Lord had left off, the ship entered the grieving young woman’s mind.

_Let Theta help you._

Lily winced at the wise voice in her head.

“I’ll be fine.” She said aloud.

_No you won’t._ The time ship told her. _I see your pain. I see the way you haven’t slept in three days because you’re afraid to dream. I see your grief, my phoenix, and it kills me I can’t help you.   But he can. He knows what it feels like to lose everything, because he has. I took him many long years for him to come to the place where he could deal with his pain. You don’t have that kind of time. With every passing hour, you become more volatile._ Lily felt what could only be described as a mental caress. _He can help you, love. Let him._

With that, the TARDIS pulled out and let her decide for herself.

Lily finally pulled out of the Doctor’s embrace and walked to the piano. She rested her hand on it and stood there for what seemed like an eternity. Finally she turned and looked him straight in the eye.

“Where do we start?”

* * *

 

The Doctor spent the next few hours showing Lily how to organize her mind, that way, she could deal with one memory at a time. Then they began going through some of the less painful ones. Only time would really take the way pain, but, till now, Lily had never even had the option of grieving, the war had taken everything. So as she remembered, he held her as she cried for the life and love she had lost. Finally they reached the point where she was just too tired to continue.

As he walked her to her bedroom, she paused.

“This won’t change what I see when I close my eyes.” She told him. “It’s one thing to say it wasn’t my fault. It’s another to actually believe it.”

_I can help there_ the TARDIS said in her mind. _I can block the images, giving you a dreamless sleep. It isn’t a permanent solution, but you need to sleep, my phoenix._

“Thank you.” She said, fatigue ringing with every word.

They reached her door and she turned and slipped her arms around the Doctor.

“And thank you.” She said, holding him tightly.

He returned the embrace. “If you need anything, come find me. Don’t hesitate to ask.”

She pulled away and looked up at his face. “There is one thing.”

“You name it.”

She looked down. “Can we go see Jack?” she asked softly. Seeing the reluctance in his face, she plowed on. “I know it’s hard for you to be around him, given what was done to him. It was hard for my Doctor too, but of all the people from this reality and mine, the most likely to believe me, besides you, is him.”

He saw how bright her eyes were. “Please. I need to see him.”

He reluctantly nodded and she hugged him tightly.

“Come on.” He told her, opening the door. “Time to sleep. We’ll worry about rouge Time Agents tomorrow.”

She smiled and entered her room, and with a last goodbye, shut her door. She got changed and lay down, and for the first time in days, fell asleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So that’s what was wrong with Lily. A cosmically powerful being with PTSD. There is no way that ends well. Next chapter, it’s off to see Jack. Originally I was going to go straight to Smith and Jones, but I love Jack and I want to be able to do crossovers with Torchwood. Plus I want to see what happens when Lily tells Jack he was married to Gwen. I know this was kind of short, but last chapter was so huge, I couldn’t handle another huge one. Forgive me. Also REVIEW!
> 
> Abbey


	16. Torchwood Revisited

Disclaimer: I guess this chapter means I going to have to admit I don’t own Torchwood either. Curse you damn copyright laws!

Ch.16: Torchwood Revisited

Ianto Jones was bored.

Usually Torchwood was a very interesting place to work, but for the past week there had been no rift activity, no weevils to track down.   What he wouldn’t do for a small alien invasion. So he was slightly surprised when, as he was playing solitaire to stave off on coming boredom induced madness, a young woman with long black hair and the strangest eyes accompanied by a tall man in a pinstriped suit walked into the store front disguise of Torchwood 3. As they walked up, he heard them whispering to each other.

“I don’t see why we couldn’t just land inside.” The man wanted to know.

She gave him a nasty look. “Because I’m already going to give him at least one heart attack today. I don’t want to have to wait for him to come back more times than I have to.”

The woman walked up to him and leaned against the counter. When she realized her companion wasn’t going to say anything, she turned and jabbed him in the stomach.

“Fine.” He said, glaring at her. He turned to Ianto. “We’d like to see Jack Harkness, please.”

To say Ianto was surprised would be an understatement. Ianto was not surprised. He was flabbergasted.

“I..um…I-ah.” Suddenly the wall opened and out ran Jack with a back pack attached to his back.

“Ianto, I’m gonna have to leave.” He said quickly, not noticing the couple. When Ianto tried to point them out, Jack ignored him. “I know it’s sudden. And no I don’t know when I’ll be back-What is it Ianto?” He turned and saw what Ianto was pointing at.

The Doctor waved cheerily while Lily just looked as if she’d seen a ghost. Which, granted, was kinda what she was seeing.

“Who are you?” Jack asked.

“Hiya Capitan Jack.” The Doctor said.

Jack looked like he’d be hit by a frying pan.

“Doctor?”

* * *

 

“Yep.” The Doctor said. He was here for Lily’s sake, and for Lily’s sake he was trying to hide his discomfort, but it was hard and some was leaking through.

“You’ve look different.” Jack stated.

“Yeah.”

Jack looked just as uncomfortable as the Doctor.

“Just how did you know it was me?” the Doctor wanted to know.

Jack looked, if anything, more uncomfortable. “I have a… um…Doctor-detector.”

“A what?!” the Doctor asked, but Jack had moved on.

“You abandoned me.” He told him. There was no accusation, just a statement of fact.

“Did I?” the Doctor said nonchalantly. “Busy life. Move on.”

Jack let it pass. “Just gotta ask,” he said. “I saw the lists of the dead at Canary Warf. I saw Rose’s name…” he trailed off.

“Oh no!” the Doctor exclaimed. “Sorry! She’s alive.”

Jack sighed in relief. “You’re kidding!”

“Parallel world, safe and sound. And Mickey! And her Mother!” the Doctor told him.

Jack’s face broke into a large grin. “Oh yes!” He grabbed the Doctor in a hug.

Suddenly a sob broke through their joy.

“Oh god, Lily!” The Doctor said, rushing to her side.

“I’m sorry.” She sobbed. “I thought it’d be easier.”

He pulled her to him and held her tightly.

“Doctor?” Jack asked softly, looking very confused.

“Jack, there’s a lot we have to talk about. A lot we have to explain. But right now, I need to get Lily some place safe where she can calm down, and it needs to happen now.” The Doctor told him seriously.

Jack nodded and led them down to the Hub, motioning for Ianto to close up and follow them.

A few minutes later, they found themselves sitting on the couch, Lily curled into the Doctor’s side. Jack and his team sat around them on any kind of chair they could find. Lily was still crying when Ianto came and set a cup of tea on the table in front of her and took a seat next to Jack.

Seeing the cup, Lily chuckled weakly. “Ah, Ianto Jones’s cure all. Tea.” She sat up and picked up and drank a sip. “Still as good as I remember.” She set the cup back down.

“I’m sorry.” He said. “Have we met before? I’m pretty sure I’d remember you.”

She shook her head. “You don’t know me, but I know you. I know all of you.” She shuttered and the Doctor turned her to look at him.

“Flashbacks?” he asked softly.

She nodded. “But they’re not so bad this time. At least I’m not trapped.” She smiled weakly. “I’m still in control.” She assured him.

He nodded.

“Doctor I don’t mean to rush you, but what’s going on?” Jack said, but Gwen interrupted.

“Better question, who the hell are you?” she demanded.

The Doctor looked at Jack sharply. “Haven’t you told them what you are?”

Jack looked away guiltily. “How was I supposed to?” he wanted to know. “How when I don’t even know what I am?” He glared at the Doctor. “You just left me there. The year 200,100 and you just left me, covered in Dalek dust. No explanation. No see you later. You were just gone.” It was the Doctor’s turn to look away.

“I couldn’t look at you.” He whispered. “You’re wrong, Jack. I can’t help it. My first instinct, the instinct of a Time Lord, was to run away.”

They didn’t seem to notice the strange looks all of Torchwood 3 seemed to be giving them.

“So you’re prejudice?” Jack asked , astonished.

The Doctor let out a startled laugh. “You know, I never thought of it that way.”

“Yeah.” Jack said as if he knew he’d won a victory, but wasn’t sure what it was.

“Can you tell me what happened?” he asked. “The last thing I remember was facing down three Daleks.” He chuckled ironically. “Death by extermination. Then I came back. What happened?

“Rose.” The Doctor answered simply. Lily slipped her hand into his, squeezing it gently.

“I thought you sent her home.” Jack said.

“Yeah like that’d work.” Lily said suddenly.

“I’m sorry, but who are?” Jack asked, curiously.

Lily looked uncomfortable, so the Doctor answered for her. “It’s probably better if we take this in order. And to answer your question, she came back.” Pride shone in his face as he talked of what she’d done. “She opened the heart of the TARDIS. She took in the power of the Vortex.”

“What does that mean exactly?”

The Doctor glanced at Lily. “No one’s ever meant to have that power. If a Time Lord did that, he’d become a god, a vengeful god. But she was human.” He said. “Everything she did was so human. She brought you back to life but she couldn’t control it. She brought you back forever. That’s something, I suppose. The final act of the Time War was life.” Lily looked down and bit back tears. The Doctor was the one to squeeze her hand this time. She looked at him and smiled sadly.

“Can she change me back?” Jack asked hopefully.

Lily was the one to answer him. “No. She wasn’t in control. Even if she wasn’t trapped in a parallel world, the power is too massive for a normal human to control. If she tried, it’d kill her.”

“She’s stuck?” Jack asked the Doctor sadly.

“Yeah.” He answered just as sadly.

“I’m sorry.” The immortal told him. “I went back to her estate, in the 90’s, just once or twice. Watched her grow up.” He shook his head. “Never said hello. Timelines and all that.”

The Doctor looked at him curiously. “Do you want to die, Jack?”

Everyone seemed very interested in the answer to this question.

When Jack didn’t answer, the Doctor leaned over and put his hand on his arm. “Jack?”

Jack looked back at him. “I thought I did.” He said softly. “I dunno. But then I met this lot. They don’t want to admit it, but they need me.” He grinned at his team. “It’s nice to be needed.”

“Ah yes, speaking of that.” The Doctor said, suddenly stern. “What do you think you’re doing, working for Torchwood?” he demanded. “They’re the reason I lost Rose.” He said softly. “Come to think of it, Torchwood was set up as a defense against me, so why haven’t you arrested me?”

Jack looked offended that he would even suggest that. “That was Torchwood 1. When I took over here, I made sure that this was a Torchwood you would be proud of. I did it in your honor and later Rose’s.”

The Doctor looked at him for a long time and then he nodded.

“I guess the rest of the story begins at Canary Warf then.” He finally said. He told them everything. He told them about his goodbye to Rose, and Lily’s arrival shortly after. He told them where Lily was from, but left the details for her to tell. Finally he concluded with a shortened version of their adventure with Donna.

They sat in stunned silence.

“You’re from an alternate reality.” Ianto said as if that explained something. His team mates stared at him. “What? That’s what she meant when she said she knew us. She knew us there.”

His team mates nodded and went back to looking at the Doctor and Lily.

Lily took a deep breath. “He’s right. I knew you all.” She said. “Next to Donna and a young doctor named Martha, Gwen Cooper, later Harkness, was my best girl friend. Owen Harper was like my annoying little brother. His girlfriend Toshiko Sato was the person I went to when I needed someone to talk to. Ianto Jones was the man who made sure I was taken care of and my favorite shopping partner.” She took another deep breath and launched into her story. She told them how her parents, her real parents smuggled her out of Gallifrey. She took a moment to, with the help of the Doctor, explain who the Time Lords were and about the Time War. She told them how she grew up in America on her Earth and how she met Torchwood 3. Then she began her stories of her time with the Doctor.

“Then came the game station.” She told them looking at Jack. “My Doctor sent me home, just like this Doctor sent Rose home. And I came back, just like Rose did. The only difference is as much as I look human and my body seems human, I’m not. The moment I took in the Vortex, it started to change me. I didn’t become a vengeful god, as the Doctor put it, because I had too much humanity, but I could control it to some extent because of the Time Lord in me. But the moment I arrived was the moment Jack died. That, coupled with the terror of seeing my Doctor at the mercy of the Daleks was too much. I lost control. And that was the moment it all went to hell.” She stood and moved away. “I brought Jack back, but I wasn’t in control, so I made the same mistake Rose did. I brought him back for good. I tried to destroy them. I really did, but I was trying to regain control at the same time. Maybe if I had just let go, things would have been different, but instead the Doctor got me out as fast as he could. I was unconscious for three days. When I finally recovered enough to walk, the first thing I did was find Jack in the present. It was then I realized exactly what I had done to the man I consider closer than a blood brother.” She turned back to them and they saw the tears pouring down her cheeks. “Believe me when I say I am so very sorry for what was done to you.”

Jack stood and wrapped the young woman in a tight hug. She just sobbed into his jacket and for a second let herself believe she was back home. But then she pulled away and continued her story. She explained how the Daleks she hadn’t managed to destroy made their way back in time. She told them about the war. She told each one how they died in her reality without really going in to details. The only happy memory she told them was of Jack and Gwen’s wedding, only to realize they weren’t together here. Soon she finished her story with her Doctor sending her through the crack and arriving in this reality.

They sat in silence, while an exhausted Lily allowed herself to be wrapped in the Doctor’s embrace.

“I’m sorry.” Gwen finally said. “I’m so sorry for what you’ve lost.” The rest of Torchwood was nodding. “No one deserves to go through half what you’ve been through.” She moved over to the couch and sat next to Lily. “I know we can’t replace the people you’ve lost, and I know I only speak for myself, but if you need anything, anything at all, you should know that we’ll be here to help. And maybe,” she laid a hand on Lily’s knee, “one day, you’ll have a new family.” Lily started to cry again, and Gwen pulled her into a tight hug, hushing the broken woman. The Doctor caught her eye over Lily’s head and mouthed a thank you to which she nodded.

“Gwen doesn’t just speak for herself.” Jack said wrapping both women in a hug. “You do have a family, if you want it, for as long as you want it, right here.”

Lily pulled away and nodded. She wiped her face with the back of her hand and smiled. “Thank you. I hope you don’t mind, but right now I need to be alone. I need to get a firmer grasp on my control and I don’t think you want me to do that here.” The Doctor started to rise, but she shook her head. “I’m fine. Stay here. I’ll just be right outside.” She smiled. “I promise to try and not blow up Cardiff.”

With that she walked out, leaving a somber group behind her.

* * *

 

Jack found her on the pier. She was sitting, just staring up at the stars. She didn’t even move when he sat next to her.

“Hey Jack.” She said, not even glancing at him.

“How did you know it was me?” he asked.

She kept looking up. “I can feel you, just like the Doctor does. The only differences are the fact that I’m used to it and I also recognize you as being made by someone like me.” She finally looked at him. “It’s like knowing something was made by a human versus a Martian. It just feels different.”

“Oh.” He said. He couldn’t think of anything else to say so he just sat and looked at the stars with her.

“I used to come here when I was upset.” She said suddenly. “Usually when the Doctor and I had a fight while on Earth. I would sit here and stare at the stars till Jack would come find me and sit with me till I felt like talking. Then he would listen to what I had to say, then he’d tell me to suck it up.” She laughed softly.

He looked at her. “You really loved him didn’t you?”

“More than words could ever express.” She replied without hesitation.

“But you said, that me and Gwen…”

She laughed. “Jack was my brother, my best friend, and my protector. The Doctor was all those things too, but he got the honor of being my lover.” Jack laughed at her way of putting it. “No Gwen was your wife. She was your soulmate.”

“There was more to her death than you said wasn’t there.” He stated.

Lily sighed. “She and Owen did die when the Hub was bombed in the first wave, what I left out was how we found them.” She turned to him. “Are you sure you want to hear this?”

He thought about it for a minute and then nodded, so she continued.

“We made it back just minutes after the bombing was done, but there was nothing Martha could do for either of them. Owen was already dead and Gwen…half of Gwen was just… gone. We don’t know how she was even still alive. Martha swore she must have been holding on just to see Jack, because she shouldn’t have been alive, but she was. He ran to her and held her in his arms. I’ll never forget it. He never once lied to her saying it was going to be ok or anything like that. He just held her and told her how much he loved her. He held her until she was gone.”

They sat in silence.

“Thank you.” He told her wrapping an arm around her. They sat there like that for over an hour, saying nothing else.

Finally he stood and held out his hand.

“Time to go back.”

She nodded and walked back to the Hub, never letting go of his hand.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Oh. My. God. That was ridiculously hard work. Next chapter is Smith and Jones part 1. I have nothing else to say. Oh no, wait, I do. Review.
> 
> Abbey


	17. Smith & Jones - What a Morning

Disclaimer: I don’t own Doctor Who. I’m just taking him out for a night on the town. I promise to have him home by morning. Also I should probably say that the beginning of this chapter is taken straight from the episode, with little to no variation.

Ch.17: Smith & Jones-What a Morning

Martha Jones was walking down the street when her phone rang. She looked at the display and groaned.

“You're up early! What's happening?” she said as she picked up the phone.  
“It's a nightmare,” her sister told her. “because Dad won't listen, and I'm telling you, Mum is going mental. Swear to God, Martha, this is epic. You've got to get in there and stop him.”  
“How do I do that?” Martha wanted to know.

“Tell Dad he can't bring her!” Tish said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

The call waiting went off. _“_ Hold on, that's Leo. I'll call you back.” She told her sister.

Her brother started before she even had a chance to say hello.

“Martha, If Mum and Dad start to kick off, tell them I don't even want a party. I didn't even ask for one. They can always give me the money instead.”

“Yeah, but why do I have to tell them? Why can't you?” she asked.

She looked at her phone as her call waiting went off. Again.

“Hold on, that's Mum. I'll call you back.” She told him and switched calls without waiting for a response.

“I don't mind your father making a fool of himself in private,” her mother started in immediately. Seriously, did no one in this family know the word hello? “but this is Leo's 21st, everyone is going to be there, and the entire family is going to look ridiculous.”

“Mum, it's a party, I can't stop Dad from bringing his girlfriend.” She told her.

Once again, her call waiting went off.

“Hold on, that's Dad, I'll call you back.”

“Martha?” It wasn’t hello, but he was doing marginally better than the rest of the family. “Now, tell your mother, Leo is my son, and I'm paying for half that party. I'm entitled to bring who I like.”

Martha sighed. “I know, but think what it's going to look like for Mum, if you're standing there with Annalise.” She told him.

“What's wrong with Annalise?” he asked.

“Is that Martha?” Martha heard over the phone. “Say hi. Hi, Martha, hi!”

“Hi, Annalise.” Martha replied, all fake cheeriness.

“Big kiss, lots of love, see you at the party, Babe.” She heard Annalise say. _“_ Now take me shopping, big boy.”

Martha had to force herself to not throw up on the street.

Suddenly a man in a pinstriped suit walked up to her and removed his tie.

“Like so!” he told her, showing her his tie. “See?”   He then walked away.

He was soon joined by a black haired woman, who seemed to find the whole thing hilarious. Before they were too far away, she heard the woman tell the strange man, “You’re such a child!” Then they disappeared into the crowd.

She managed to make it all the way to the hospital with no more calls from her family. The only hitch was the giant moron who ran into her on the way in, but she came out unscathed, so she forgot about it. She opened her locker and got ready for her shift. She put on her lab coat and went to shut the door, when she got shocked. She shook her hand, and then tried the door again. Nothing happened, so she shut it and went on her way.

Her rounds with the other residents started out boring.

“I was all right till this morning,” their first patient told them, “and then, I don't know, I woke up and I felt all dizzy again. It was worse than when I came in.”

“Pulse is slightly thready.” Mr. Stoker told them. “Well, let's see what Britain's finest might suggest. Any ideas, Moregenstern?”

Moregenstern scrambled for an answer. “Dizziness can be a sign of early onset diabetes.” He finally came up with.

“Hardly early onset, if you'll forgive me, Miss Finnegan.” Mr. Stoker scoff. “Any more ideas? Swales?”

“Um... could recommend a CT scan.” Swales suggested.

“And spend all our money.” Stoker replied. “Jones?”

“We could take bloods and check for Meniere's disease.” Was Martha’s suggestion.

“Or we could simply ask the patient.” Stoker told them. “What did you have for dinner last night?” he asked her.

“I had salad.” She told him.

“And the night before?”

“Salad, again.” She replied.

“And salad every night for the past week, contrary to my instructions.” He told her. He addressed the rest of them. “Salt deficiency, that's what. Simple, honest salt.”

They followed him across the lobby as he droned on. **“** Hippocrates himself expounded on the virtues of salt. Recommended the inhalation of steam from sea water. Though no doubt if he'd been afflicted with my students, results might have been rather more colorful.”

When they reached the next bed, Martha found the man who this morning had taken his tie off for her.

“Now then, Mr. Smith, a very good morning to you. How are you today?” Stoker asked, but before Smith could answer, the black haired woman burst in. She did not look happy.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she yelled at him. “I go away for one afternoon. ONE AFTERNOON, and I come back and get a message via Jack. ‘I’m in the hospital, but don’t worry. I’ll be back tomorrow’! Are you kidding me?!”

“Lily…”

She just ignored him and kept going.   “Seriously are you out of your mind? All I did was going shopping with Gwen and Ianto and I come back to find you gone, Jack freaking out because he’s got a weevil on the loose, and the Hub in chaos. So can you please explain to me what the hell is going on?!”

She glared at him.

“Can I speak now?” he asked.

She just kept glaring at him. He swallowed and opened his mouth to speak, but Mr. Stoker beat him to it.

“Now see here, young lady. This is a hospital, and you will conduct yourself appropriately, or you will be asked to leave.”

The woman, Lily, turned her glare on him and he took a step back. The woman had the oddest eyes. Gray with flecks of gold. Finally she closed her eyes and seemed to visibly bring herself under control.

“I’m sorry.” She said softly. “I was just worried when our friend told me my boyfriend here was in the hospital. I do apologize for my outburst.”

Mr. Smith smiled, but faltered when she glared at him again.

“Do not for a second think that you are not still in trouble.” She growled at him.

He looked at her strangely. “Are you aware that your speech pattern gets strange when you’re mad?”

She growled and took a step towards him, stopping short and changing directions to sit in the chair next to his bed. Anger seemed to roll off her in waves and the interns gave her a wide berth.

Stoker cleared his throat. “As I was saying, how are you feeling this morning?”

“Aw, you know. Not so bad, still, you know, a bit blah.” He told him.

Martha heard Lily mutter.

“You’re feeling blah now, just wait till we get home. You’re gonna wish you felt blah.”

Martha smiled to herself.

“John Smith, admitted yesterday with severe abdominal pains. Jones, why don't you see what you can find? Amaze me.” Stoker said.

Martha didn’t miss the panicked look Lily shot John when she pulled out her stethoscope.

“That wasn’t very clever, running around outside, was it?” she asked softly.

He looked genuinely confused. He shot Lily a look. Martha glanced at her and saw that she was staring at Martha with a sick look.

Smith looked back at her.

“Sorry?” he asked.

“On Chancery Street this morning.” She told him, confused. “You came up to me and took your tie off.” How could he not remember?

“Really?” he asked, seeming just as confused as her. “What did I do that for?” He looked back at Lily, who now had her eyes closed and her head tilted back.

“I don’t know.” Martha told him. “You just did.”

“Not me.” He replied. “I was here. Just ask the nurses.”

Now she was really confused. “Well that’s weird. Cause it looked like you.” She studied him closely. “You haven’t got a twin brother, do you?” she asked.

“No, not anymore.” He told her. “Just me.”

Suddenly, Martha was brought back to reality by Mr. Stoker.

“As time passes and I grow ever more infirm and weary, Miss Jones.” He told her.

“Right. Sorry.” She muttered. She put her stethoscope to his chest, and her face quickly took on a puzzled look. She lifted the stethoscope and put it on the other side and listened. She wasn’t crazy! There were two heart beats! She looked up at him and he winked.

“I weep for future generations. Are you having trouble locating the heart, Miss Jones?” he asked.

She grasped for the first thing she could think of.

“Um…I don’t know. Stomach cramps?”

Mr. Stoker looked at her.

“That is a symptom, not a diagnosis.” He told her. “And you rather failed basic techniques by not consulting first with the patient's chart.” He went to pick it up and received a nasty shock.

“That happened to me this morning.” She told him.

Morgenstern agreed with her. “I had the same thing on the door handle.”

“And me, on the lift.” Swales told them.

Martha saw Lily suddenly sit up, while Mr. Smith gave her a satisfied smile. She just glared at him again.

“That's only to be expected.” Stoker assured them. “There's a thunderstorm moving in and lightning is a form of static electricity, as was first proven by - anyone?”

Seeing no one was going to answer, Smith jumped in.

“Benjamin Franklin.” He answered, looking smug.

“Correct!” Mr. Stoker told him.

“My mate Ben, that was a day and a half. I got rope burns off that kite, and then I got soaked and then I got electro-ow!”

The man obviously would have kept going if a hand hadn’t reached over and smacked him upside the head. Lily got to look smug while Smith grumbled and rubbed his head.

“Quite.” Stoker said moving away. “I think perhaps a visit from psychiatric.” He said softly. And then louder, “And next we have…”

And they were alone.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: There you go guys. First installment of Smith and Jones. Enjoy.
> 
> Abbey


	18. Smith & Jones - What Happens on the Moon

Disclaimer: So if I got on top of a building and started shouting to the world that I own Doctor Who, do you think anyone would believe me? No. So why does anyone believe that if I’m writing fanfiction, I must own Doctor Who? Are there really people stupid enough to believe that? Cause I want to meet them.

Ch.18: Smith & Jones-What Happens on the Moon

The Doctor and Lily sat in silence. Lily had never been this angry at him, so he decided his best course of action was to just sit quietly and let her calm down. That had been a half an hour ago, and they were still sitting there with Lily refusing to talk to him and The Doctor afraid to talk to her. Finally, she said something.

“You are so freaking lucky, you know that right?”

He looked at her in confusion.

She gave an exasperated sigh. “You had to choose the only hospital in the city where Martha Jones works?”

“What?”

“That woman?” she asked him. “The one who realized you have-“ she lowered her voice, “two hearts?”

“That was Martha Jones?” he asked, surprised. “As in Martha Jones, you’re friend from…back home…, that Martha Jones?”

She gave him a condescending look. “No, the other Martha Jones. Of course that Martha Jones! What do you think?”

She was yelling again. She took a moment to calm down again, and then continued.

“You’re incredibly lucky it was her that listened to your hearts.” She told him softly. “Martha hates a mystery, so she won’t tell anyone until she’s figured it out.” She sighed. “You could have picked any other hospital to try this little experiment or whatever this is, but no, you choose the one most likely to give me a breakdown.”

She seemed to be talking to herself and not him now. She trailed off and stared through the window, not really seeing anything. He leaned over and took her hand.

“Are you alright?” he asked softly.

She looked down at their hands and back up at his face. Finally she nodded.

“Yeah, it was just a shock.” She told him. “It wasn’t as bad as Donna, but it was harder than Jack and the rest of the team. I was at least ready for them. Martha just caught me by surprise.”

He nodded.

“Why didn’t you just call me?” she continued. “What was so all fired important that you had to check yourself into a human hospital and risk exposure?”

He got really excited. “I was in the TARDIS, when I started getting these really strange readings from London. So I thought, I’ll just pop in, have a look around. When I got here, I found plasma coils connected to the hospital. Is that weird?” Seeing that she was glaring at him again, he decided to move on. “So I decided to check myself in and see what was going on.”

“And it never occurred to you to call your companion who, while not being exactly human, at least, for the moment, has human physiology?” she asked him in a deadly calm voice.

He cringed. “You know you did that weird thing with your speech pattern again.”

“DOCTOR!” she shouted.

“SHHH!” he said quickly. People were giving them strange looks. “This is a hospital, remember? Shout for a doctor and you’ll get one.”

She glared at him and sat back down.

They sat in silence again. Finally he asked “What did you mean by telling them you’re my girlfriend.”

She didn’t bother looking at him. “If I say I’m your girlfriend, they won’t kick me out when visiting hours are over, you moron.” She looked at him, still glaring. “Would you have rather I said I was your wife?”

“Um…no…girlfriend’s fine.” He told her weakly.

She grumbled something about idiotic Time Lords and they went back to sitting in silence. When he couldn’t stand it anymore, he asked, “How did you get here?”

“I had Jack lend me a Torchwood car.” She told him. “Which reminds me, I need to call him and tell he doesn’t need to break you out of some government facility. And we also need to return his car before we leave.”

They went back to silence. What was strange was, the longer they sat there, the less Lily seemed to calm down. If anything she was getting more upset.

“Lily,” the Doctor said quietly. “What’s really wrong?”

She wouldn’t look at him.

“Lily.”

Finally she turned to face him and he saw tears on her cheeks.

“I was scared.” She told him. “It didn’t matter that you said you were fine. All I heard was your name in conjunction with hospital and all I could think was that another of the people I cared about was hurt.”

He pulled her to him, motioning for her to lie on the bed next to him. She climbed on top of the covers and let him hold her.

“I’m sorry.” He said. “It never occurred to me that you would think that.”

“It doesn’t matter.” She said softly.

“Yes it does.” He told her. “Sometimes I forget we’ve only been together a few weeks. I forget what you’ve gone through.”

“I forget it’s only been a few weeks too.” She said. “And then something happens and I remember and then it terrifies me to realize just how dependent I’ve become on you. If something were to happen…”

He hushed her. “Nothing’s going to happen.”

They just sat there, until he realized she had dozed off. He gently pulled away and got up and put on a dressing gown. A little exploring couldn’t hurt.

* * *

 

Martha was currently in the doctor’s kitchen talking to her sister.

“No, listen,” she was saying, “I've worked out a plan. We tell Annalise that the buffet tonight is one hundred per cent carbohydrate, and she won't turn up.”

“I wish you'd take this seriously. That's our inheritance she's spending.” Tish replied. “On a fake tan. Tell you what, I'm not that far away, I'll drop by for a sandwich and we can draw up a plan.”

Martha looked out at the pouring rain. “In this weather? I'm not going out, it's pouring down.”      

“It's not raining here.” Tish told her. “That's weird. It's sitting right on top of you, I can see it, but it's dry where I am.”

“Well, you just got lucky.” Martha told her, not really paying attention.

“No, but it's like in cartoons, you know, when a man's got a cloud over his head.” Tish continued, but Martha moved on.

“But listen, I tell you what we'll do.”

Martha glanced out and saw Mr. Smith walk by. He gave her a strange look but continued on.

“We tell Dad and Annalise to get there early, for about 7:30, for Leo to do his birthday stuff. We tell Mum to come about 8:30 or nine, and that gives me time to have a word with Annalise, and—“

Suddenly Swales pointed to the window.

“What?” Martha asked, glancing at the window.

“The rain.”

Martha gave a sight. “It's only rain.”

Suddenly Tish called through the phone. “Martha! Have you seen the rain?”

“Why's everyone fussing about rain?” Martha asked, moving to the window.

“It's going up.” Swales said at the same moment Tish said “The rain is going up.”

Martha looked out the window. The rain _was_ going up. At that moment everything began to shake. Martha and Swales were thrown to the ground. They tried to shield themselves as the contents of the cupboards flew at them. They just as suddenly as it began, it stopped.

“What in hell was that?” Martha asked as she stood back up.

“Are you all right?” Swales asked, also standing.

“I think so, yeah.” Martha told her. “It felt like an earthquake, or –“

“Martha?” Swales interrupted. “It's night. It was lunchtime.”

“It's not night.” Martha told her slowly. She moved to the window.

“It's got to be. It's dark.” Swales replied, following her to the window.

“We're on the moon.” Martha said. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

“We can't be.” Swales told her, denying what was in front of her.

Martha just ignored her. “We're on the moon. We're on the bloody moon.”

Martha ran out, Swales close behind. The corridors were chaos.

“Have you seen-“ Mrs. Finnegan tried to ask her, but Martha just kept going.

“I’m sorry.” She said as she passed. “I can’t.”

Martha entered the ward where Mr. Smith was to find him being shouted at again by Lily.

“I only dozed off for a second, and you manage to get us transported to the moon?!” She ignored his protests that it wasn’t him. “And now I’ve got to call Jack and tell him we’re stuck on the moon!”

Martha moved to the window, helping people back up as she went.

“All right, everyone back to bed, we've got an emergency but we'll sort it out.” She told them calmly. She vaguely registered that Lily had stopped yelling. She glanced over and found them watching her.

She finally reached the window and looked out over the view.

“It’s real.” She whispered. “It’s really real. Hold on.” She reached for the latch only to be stopped by Swales.

“Don’t!” she sobbed. “We’ll lose all the air.”

“But they're not exactly air tight.” Martha told her calmly. “If the air was going to get sucked out it would have happened straight away, but it didn't. So how come?”

She heard the curtains around Mr. Smith’s bed pull back. She turned to find him fully dressed in a blue pinstriped suit and trainers. Lily still looked annoyed as she pulled a short black leather jacket over her black t-shirt and jeans. Smith glanced at her and stopped short.

“Where did you get that jacket?” he asked.

She looked at him. “I told you. I went shopping with Gwen and Ianto.”

“But you don’t have any money.”

She sighed. “If you paid attention, you would have heard Jack tell me that when I’m here, he pays for everything. You also would have heard me argue with him for roughly an hour and then you would have seen him shove a credit card in my hand and heard him tell me that he had more money than he knew what to do with and that if I didn’t take the damn thing and go shopping, he was going to lock me up with the weevils and he was going to do it for me.”

Smith looked really confused. “When did this happen?”

“Last night.”

“Where was I?”

“Messing with the pterodactyl.”

He laughed to himself. “Oh right.”

He caught sight of Martha. “Right back on track.” They moved over to the window. “You had a very good point.” He told Martha. “Brilliant, in fact. What was your name?” he asked.

“As if you didn’t know.” Martha heard Lily mutter, but filed it away for later. Something about this couple was very strange.

“Martha.” She told him.

“And it was Jones, wasn’t it?” She nodded. “Well then, Martha Jones, the question is, how are we still breathing?”

“We can’t be!” Swales wailed.

“Obviously we are so don't waste my time.” He told her and then turned back. “Martha, what have we got? Is there a balcony on this floor, or a veranda, or...?”

“By the patient’s lounge, yeah.”

He grinned. “Fancy going out?”

She grinned back. “Ok.”

“We might die.” Lily told her, a smile beginning to form.

“We might not.” Martha countered.

“Good! C'mon.” he said, clapping his hands together. “Not her,” he said, pointing at Swales. “She'd hold us up.”

As they were leaving, Lily said, “You’re being rude again.”

“I know.”

“Oh well, as long as you know, that makes it all alright.” Lily grumbled, following him out.

When they reached the balcony, Mr. Smith pushed the doors open.

“We’ve got air!” Martha exclaimed. “How does that work?”

“Just be glad it does.” Lily told her, as they moved out.

“I've got a party tonight.” She told them. “It's my brother's twenty-first. My mother's going to be really ... really…”

“You ok?” Mr. Smith asked her.

“Yeah” she said weakly.

“Sure?” It was Lily asking this time.

“Yeah.” She said again, stronger this time.

“Want to go back in?” Smith asked her.

“No way. I mean, we could die any minute, but all the same - it's beautiful.” She looked around in wonder.

“You think?” Smith asked, exchanging a smile with Lily.

“How many people want to go to the moon? And here we are!” She told them.

“Standing in the Earthlight.” Lily responded.

“What happened?” Martha asked.

Smith looked at her, while Lily moved to lean on the railing.

“What do you think?” he asked Martha.

She thought about it for a moment, then answered.

“Extraterrestrial. It's got to be. I don't know, a few years ago that would have sounded man, but these days? That spaceship flying into Big Ben - Christmas - those Cybermen things.” She paused. “I had a cousin. Adeola. She worked at Canary Wharf. She never came home.” She told them.

“I’m sorry.” Smith said softly, looking away.

“Yeah.”

“I was there.” He told her. “In the battle.”

Lily moved over so she was standing next to him. She took his hand and he smiled down at her.

“I promise you, Mr Smith, we will find a way out.” She told them. “If we can travel to the moon, then we can travel back. There's got to be a way.”

“It’s not Smith.” He told her. “That’s not my real name.”

She looked at him in confusion. “Who are you then?”

“I’m the Doctor.” He told her. Lily elbowed him. “Oh and this is Lily Carter.”

“I’m a doctor too, if I can ever pass my exams.” She told him. “What is it, then, Doctor Smith?”

“Just the Doctor.”

“How do you mean, just the Doctor?” she asked.

“He means just that.” Lily told her.

“What people call you ‘the Doctor’?” she asked, confused.

“Yeah.” He told her.

“Well, I'm not.” She told him. “As far as I'm concerned, you've got to earn that title.”

Lily laughed at the stunned look on his face. “I could have told you that would happen.”

He snapped out of it. “Well, I'd better make a start, then. Let's have a look.” He picked up a pebble and throw it. Suddenly a greenish wall appeared. “There must be some sort of force field keeping the air in.”

“If that's like a bubble sealing us in, that means this is the only air we've got. What happens when it runs out?” Martha asked.

“How many people in this hospital?” The Doctor asked.

“I don’t know, a thousand?” she told him.

“One thousand people. Suffocating.” He replied simply.

“I’m gonna kill you.” Lily told him suddenly. “If I die here, I’m gonna kill you.”

“If you die here, I’ll probably die here two, you realize.” He replied.

“Don’t get cute with me. I survived a war. I didn’t do that so you could get me killed in a hospital on the moon!” she yelled at him.

“Well, you’re the one with the special powers; can you do anything to fix this?” he asked.

She glared at him. “I’m thinking.” She moved back to the edge of the balcony. “I don’t have the power to move us back.” She told him. “Not without losing control, and then who knows what would happen.”

“What about air supply?”

She looked around. “I could probably change CO2 to oxygen, but not enough to keep us alive indefinitely, just about 15 minutes worth probably. And even then, it’ll take a lot out of me, I won’t be good for anything else.”

The Doctor nodded. “Let’s keep that in reserve for now.”

Lily nodded.

“What’s going on?” Martha asked. “Who would do this?”

“Heads up.” Lily called. They moved to stand next to her.

“Why don’t you ask them yourself?” The Doctor said.

Far below them, three massive ships were landing.

“Aliens. That's aliens. Real, proper aliens.” Martha babbled.

The Doctor nodded. “Judoon.” He told her.

Lily turned and glared at him.

“I really hate you.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Second installment, there you go. Have fun.
> 
> Abbey


	19. Smith & Jones - What Remains the Same

Disclaimer: If you haven’t got it by now, then you never will.

Ch.19: Smith & Jones-What Remains the Same

The Doctor, Lily and Martha had taken up a spot on the second floor of the lobby and were waiting for the Judoon to enter.

The Doctor looked over the railing. “Oh you’ve got a little shop. I like a little shop.”

Lily patted his arm. “That’s nice Doctor.” She told him patronizingly.

They sat in silence.

“Oh!” Lily said suddenly. “I found out what Jack’s “Doctor-detector” is!”

The Doctor looked at her. “What?”

She grinned. “You’re never gonna believe this.” She told him. “He’s got your hand in a jar.”

The Doctor sat in stunned silence. “He’s got what?”

“Your hand. In a jar.” She repeated. “The one that got cut off. Apparently, the whole thing bubbles when this version of you comes near.”

“He’s got my hand in a jar.” The Doctor repeated, uncomprehending.

“Yep” she replied, laughing. “See my question is: You told me your hand fell from the Sycorax’s ship down to the middle of London, so how the hell did Jack find it?”

“He’s got my hand. In a jar.”

She laughed at him. “Yes Doctor, he’s got your hand. In a jar.” He just looked so shocked. “Seriously though, how did he find a hand in the middle of London?”

“I have no idea.” He told her.

“Hang on.” Martha interrupted. “You’ve got both of your hands.”

“I got one cut off last Christmas, but due to extenuating circumstances I was able to re-grow it.” He told her, still staring at Lily, who was laughing her head off.

“You re-grew a hand.” She said.

“Yep.”

“And now some guy named Jack has it in a jar.”

“Yeah.”

She just shook her head. “You two get weirder by the minute.”

“You think we’re bad now, give us a little while, cause here come the Judoon.” Lily told her.

Sure enough, the doors were opening and in came the Judoon. The leader took off his helmet and Martha gasped when she saw the rhino like head underneath. They watched as one of Martha’s fellow interns tried to greet the leader only to be forced to a wall.

“So what are the Judoon?” Martha wanted to know.

“Galactic police.” The Doctor told her.

“More like galactic thugs. They work for the highest bidder.” Lily interrupted. “What?” she asked when the Doctor gave her a strange look. He just shook his head.

“And they brought us to the moon?” Martha asked.

“Neutral territory.” He told her. “According to galactic law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth, so they isolated us. That rain? Lightning? That was them, using an H2O scoop.”

“What's that about 'galactic law'? Where'd you get that from?” she asked. “If they're police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the moon or something?”

He looked at her and smiled.

Lily leaned over. “I told you she was smart.” She told him with a smug smile.

“Yes you did.” He turned back to Martha. “No.” he told her, answering her question. “But I like that. Good thinking. No, it's more simple. They're making a catalogue. Which means they’re after something non-human.” He looked at Lily.

“Which means we’ve got problems.” She finished for him. They ignored Martha for a minute.

“I know what they’re gonna find with you, but what about me?” Lily asked. “Am I gonna register as human?”

The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver and ran a scan. Checking the results, he looked at her.

“How far in can you pull the vortex part of you?” he asked. “How far can you suppress it?”

“Why, is it showing up?”

He nodded. “The chameleon arch made you human, so by all rights, you shouldn’t have a problem, but whatever the vortex did to you, it’s making you register not as non-human, but more like…human plus.”

“Human plus?” she repeated. When he nodded she scowled. “Never call me that again.” She sighed and closed her eyes. She sat there for a few seconds and then opened her eyes. “That’s about as good as I can do.” She told him.

He ran the scan again. “All good. You’re showing up as human.” He looked at her. “How long can you keep that up?”

“Let’s just put it this way,” she told him. “This better not take long.”

He nodded and they turned back to Martha who was staring at them.

“You’ve got to be joking.” She said. They stared at her. “Stop looking at me like that.” She told them.

The Doctor stood and helped Lily to her feet.

“Come on, then” he said and they took off.

* * *

 

They reached an office with a computer that the Doctor could use to search for…whatever it was the Judoon were looking for. Lily and The Doctor went in while Martha went to go check the progress of the Judoon. The Doctor sat and began to work while Lily wandered to the window.

“Is she the same?” The Doctor asked Lily suddenly.

Without turning, Lily said “In some ways. In others she’s completely different.” She sighed. “In my world she was…I don’t know…she was more open. Of course I met her under different circumstances.” She turned and leaned against the window sill. “When the Doctor and I were first together, we had a…scare.” She wouldn’t look at him. “I insisted on going to a doctor on Earth. I went to a hospital, and Martha was the doctor who looked at me. She was so kind and she helped me calm down and she told me there was nothing to worry about.” She smiled sadly. “Of course, nothing involving the Doctor ever goes smoothly. We ran into some trouble with a plasmavore stealing blood from patients while posing as an orderly. Martha helped us out. It was clear that she was more than just a doctor, so we invited her to come with us.”

“So there was nothing to the…” the Doctor started hesitantly, then trailed off.

“I wouldn’t say that.” She said softly. “I was hurt in the first wave. I was seven months pregnant at the time. There was nothing Martha could do. I lost my daughter, and the damage was so extensive I could never have children again.”

The Doctor moved to her side and wrapped his arm around her. She laid her head on his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry.” he told her.

“So many people were lost, but she was the worse in a lot of ways.” Lily closed her eyes. “My baby girl. She was innocent. And I couldn’t defend her.”

“It wasn’t your fault.” He told her.

“I know it wasn’t.” she said softly. “But it doesn’t stop me from blaming myself.”

They stood there for a minute, then Lily pulled away.

“Come on, skinny boy.” She said. “We’ve got work to do.”

* * *

 

A few minutes later, The Doctor was back working on the computer and Lily was looking for hard copy files. Martha came back and told them the Judoon had reached the third floor.

When she spotted the sonic screwdriver, she asked, “What’s that thing?”

“Sonic Screwdriver.” He told her, not looking up.

“Well if you’re not going to answer me properly.” She said.

“No, it really is.” He said, not seeming to understand why she didn’t believe him. “It’s a screwdriver and it’s sonic.” He held it up, “See?”

“What else have you got?” she asked. “A Laser spanner?”

“No.” He replied, sullenly. “She broke it.” He pointed accusingly at Lily who held up her hands defensively.

“Hey, if you don’t want me to sit on it, don’t leave it on the jump seat!”

The Doctor glared at her, and then he went back to the computer. He grew more annoyed as the seconds passed until he finally hit it in a moment of peak frustration.

“I’ve told you that doesn’t work.” Lily told him a sing song voice that he studiously ignored.

“Oh, this computer!” he said. “The Judoon must have locked it down. Judoon platoon upon the moon. Cause I was just travelling past, I swear, I was just wandering,” he started to ramble (“NO YOU WEREN’T!” Lily screeched. “YOU TOLD ME SO!”) . “I wasn't looking for trouble, honestly, I wasn't, but I noticed these plasma coils around the hospital, and that lightning, that's plasma coils, been building up for two days now, so I checked in, I thought something was going on inside, but it turns out the plasma coils were the Judoon up above.”

“But what were they looking for?” Martha asked.

“Something that looks human, but isn’t.” he told her.

“Like you two. Apparently.” She said with a smile.

“Hey!” Lily protested. “Technically I am human!”

“You just got done telling me the other day how you were technically a Time Lord.” The Doctor told her, amused. “Like us. But not us.” He told Martha.

“Haven’t they got a picture?” Lily asked.

“Might be a shape changer.” He responded.

“Whatever it is, can’t you just leave the Judoon to find it?” Martha wanted to know.

“If they declare the hospital guilty of harboring a fugitive, they'll sentence it to execution.” He told her.

“All of us?” Martha asked, horrified.

“And now we come to why I find the Judoon so annoying.” Lily said.

“Oh yes. If I can find this thing first...” he said messing with the computer some more. “Oh! Just that they're thick! Judoon are thick! They are completely thick! They wiped the records. Oh, that's clever.” He ran a hand through his already very messed up hair.

“What are we looking for?” Lily asked, looking over his shoulder. She began absentmindedly trying to flatten his hair.

“ I don't know. Any patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms.” He told them. He grabbed the computer and started looking at it more closely. “Maybe there's a back-up.”

Martha moved to the door. “Just keep working.” She told them. “I'll go ask Mr Stoker, he might know.”

And with that she left.

Lily looked at the Doctor.

“You’re never gonna find anything, you know that right?” she told him.

“Shut up.”

* * *

 

The Doctor managed to restore the back up, so he and Lily took off at a run to find Martha.

They quite literally ran into her in the corridor.

“I’ve restored the backup.” He told her quickly.

“I’ve found her.” She replied, out of breath.

“You what?” Lily asked.

“Never mind that.” The Doctor said, spotting the motorcyclist. “Run!”

They ran down the hall and into the stairs. On the way down they saw the Judoon coming up.

“Maybe not that way.” Lily said, but when they turned, they saw the motorcyclist coming down.

“This way.” The Doctor said, directing them to the fourth floor. They ran down the corridor and the Doctor lead them into a room marked x-ray and shut the door.

“You two, when I say ‘now’, press the button.” He told them, moving to the large machine in the middle of the room.

“Good idea.” Lily said sarcastically. “Mind telling us which button that is, oh wise one?”

“Find out!” he told her. They turned when the motorcyclist began to break the door. Lily and Martha ran into the side room and started trying to figure it out.

“Now!” The Doctor yelled as the door finally broke.

“Fine!” Lily yelled back, deciding to pick the biggest button and slammed her hand down. They looked away from the bright light.

The thing fell down.

“What did you do?” Martha asked, shocked.

“Increased the radiation by five thousand percent.” He said. “Killed him dead.”

“Isn’t that likely to kill you?” she asked. Lily snorted.

“Nah, it's only radiation.” He replied. “We used to play with roentgen bricks in the nursery. It's safe for you to come out, I've absorbed it all. All I need to do is expel it.” He started bouncing and hopping around. _“_ If I concentrate I can shake the radiation out of my body and into one spot. It's in my left shoe. Here we go, here we go, easy does it...” he started shaking he foot. _“_ Out, out, out, out, out. Out, out, ah, ah, ah, ah. It is, it is, it is, it is, it is hot. Ah - hold on.” He took his shoe off and threw it in the trash. “Done.”

He stood there very proudly till Lily burst out laughing.

“You gonna wander around with just one shoe on?” she asked through her laughter.

“You’re completely mad. Both of you.” Martha told them.

“You’re right.” He said. “I look daft with only one shoe.” The insane smug look came back. “Barefoot on the moon.”

“So what is this thing?” Martha asked. Lily moved to stand beside the Doctor. “And where's it from? The planet Zovirax?”

“It's just a Slab. They're called 'Slabs'. Basic slave drones, see? Solid leather, all the way through.” He told her.

“That is one hell of a fetish.” Lily commented.

“It came with that woman, Mrs. Finnegan. It was working for her. Just like a servant.” Martha told them, but the Doctor had seen the remains of his screwdriver.

“My screwdriver.”

Lily came up and wrapped her arm around his waist.

“It’s alright.” She told him soothingly.

“She was one of the patients, but-“ Martha told them.

“My sonic screwdriver.” The Doctor moaned.

“I know.” Lily told him.

“She had a straw like some kind of vampire.” Martha continued.

“I loved my sonic screwdriver.”

“It’s gonna be ok.” Lily said, rubbing his back.

“Doctor!” Martha yelled.

Both he and Lily started.

“Sorry.” He said. He smiled. “You called me Doctor.”

Martha gaped and then moved on. “Anyway! Miss Finnegan is the alien. She was drinking Mr. Stoker's blood.”

“Oh you have got to be kidding me.” Lily moaned.

“What?” The Doctor asked.

“Just take a minute. You’ll get there.”

The Doctor stared at her. “Ok fine.” He walked away. “Funny time to take a snack. You'd think she'd be hiding. Unless - no. Yes, that's it, wait a minute. Yes! Shape-changer. Internal shape-changer. She wasn't drinking blood, she was assimilating it!”

Lily smiled. “There you go.”

“If she can assimilate Mr Stoker's blood, mimic the morphology, she can register as human.” He said. “We've got to find her and show the Judoon. Come on!”

And off they went.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So Lily lost a child. The hits just keep on coming. Feedback please.
> 
> Abbey


	20. Smith & Jones - What I Did Today

Disclaimer: The only Doctor Who I own is on DVD and even those don’t work properly.

Ch.20: Smith & Jones-What I Did Today

The Doctor, Lily, and Martha ran down a corridor until they spotted another Slab coming at them, so they ducked behind a large plant.

“That’s the thing about Slabs,” the Doctor told them. “they always travel in pairs.”

“What about you two?” Martha asked.

“What about us?” Lily asked, tracking the progress of the Slab.

“Haven’t you got back up or something?” she asked. “What about that guy, Jack, you were talking about earlier?”

The Doctor gave her a look of vast superiority. “Humans,” he said. “We're stuck on the moon, running out of air, with Judoon and a bloodsucking criminal, and you're asking personal questions.” He stood up, helping Lily and then Martha to their feet. “Come on.”

“I like that. "Humans."” She said as he moved away. “I'm still not convinced you're an alien.”

“Oh trust me.” Lily told her. “Sometimes he’s about as alien as they come.”

They turned a corner and came face to face with a Judoon, who shined the scanner right in the Doctor’s face.

“Non-Human”

Martha stared at the Doctor in shock. “Oh my god, you really are.”

“And again!” the Doctor shouted as they took off.

They ran down the corridor, with Judoon shooting at them and ducked into a stair well and headed down.

“They've done this floor.” He told them. “Come on. The Judoon are logical and just a little bit thick. They won't go back to check a floor they've checked already. If we're lucky.”

“Since when are we lucky?” Lily wanted to know. “You know what I’d really like? Just one trip where no one shoots at me. Just one.”

“Maybe next time.” He told her and moved off.

“Yeah right. And right after that, Jack and I are gonna get married and have lots of immortal children.” Lily muttered, following after him.

As they walked down the hall, they spotted Swales. Martha stopped and kneeled down next to her.

“How much oxygen do we have?” she asked the other intern.

“Not enough.” She replied. “Not for all these people. We’re gonna run out.”

“How are you feeling?” The Doctor asked her. “Are you alright?”

“I’m running on adrenaline.” She told him.

Lily smiled. “Welcome to our world.”

The Doctor turned his attention to her. “How about you? “

She briefly considered lying to him, but knew he’d see through it.

“It’s getting harder to suppress the vortex.” She told him. “Right now I’m using the overflow to keep me going so I don’t need as much oxygen, but you better give me a safe outlet soon, or being on the moon without any air is going to be the least of our problems.”

“If you used the power to change CO2 to oxygen, would that be enough of an outlet?”

She nodded. “More than enough. Releasing that much power, routing it through what is still, essentially, a human body is going to be hard on me.” She looked at him seriously. “We’re gonna need to time it just right, cause I’m not gonna be moving, unless you carry me, after.”

He nodded.

“What about the Judoon?” Martha asked.

“Ah, great big lung reserves, it won't slow them down.” He told her, looking around. “Where's Mr Stoker's office?” he asked.

“It’s this way.” She told him, leading the way.

When they turned the corner, he made her let him take the lead, with Lily keeping watch from behind.

“She’s gone!” Martha exclaimed as they entered. Lily checked to make sure they weren’t followed and shut the door. “She was here!” Martha told them.

“Drained him dry.” The Doctor said, kneeling to examine him. “I was right. She’s a plasmavore.”

“Excuse me?” Lily said dryly. “Who was right?”

“Ok, you were right. Doesn’t change the fact she’s a plasmavore.” He told her.

“Also doesn’t change the fact that that is extremely weird.” Lily countered.

The Doctor nodded and went back to examining Mr. Stoker.

“But what’s she doing on Earth?” Martha asked.

“Hiding. On the run.” He told her. “Like Ronald Biggs in Rio de Janeiro.” He paused. “What's she doing now? She's still not safe. The Judoon could execute us all.” He stood and moved to the door. “Come on.”

“Hold on.” Martha told him, moving next to Mr. Stoker’s body. Kneeling, she leaned over and closed his eyes, then she got up and followed the Doctor and Lily out.

They walked down the hall as the Doctor tried to figure out what the plasmavore was doing. Sparing a glance at Lily, he noticed she was starting to look worse. The strain of suppressing her powers was starting to get to her.

“Think, think, think.” He said, pushing his worries out of his mind. The fastest way to fix them was to get them back to Earth. “If I was a plasmavore surrounded by police, what would I do?” he asked, talking to himself. They past a door marked MRI and he stopped. Looking at it, he smiled. “Aah. She's as clever as me. Almost.”

Suddenly the doors at the end of the corridor burst open and Judoon spilled through.

The Doctor turned to Lily and Martha.

“Lily, I need time.” He told her quickly. “I need you two to hold them off.”

“Yeah, but it’s gonna have to be Martha.” She told him just as quickly. “We can’t risk them scanning me too closely.”

“I know.” He said. He gave her a long look and she nodded.

“Just do it.” She said. “I’ll explain it to her.”

“Thank you.” He said, resting his hand on her cheek. She grabbed it and squeezed it tightly and quickly. He moved to Martha.

“Martha forgive me for this.” He told her. “It’s to save a thousand lives, it means nothing.” He grabbed her face. “Honestly nothing.” And with that he kissed her and ran off.

Martha stood there in shock. “That was nothing?” she asked.

“Yes. It was.” Lily said quietly.

“I’m sorry.” Martha said sheepishly. “I mean he’s your boyfriend-“

Lily cut her off. “No he’s not. But he recently lost the woman he loves, just like I lost the man I love. When he says it means nothing, he means it means nothing.” She grabbed the other woman’s arm and made her look at her. “Promise me you won’t read anything into it.” See the woman hesitate, she repeated “Promise me!”

Martha nodded and Lily let go.

“Now we get to deal with Judoon.”

The Judoon walked slowly to where Lily and Martha were blocking their path. The leader looked at the rest of the Judoon with him.

“Find the non-human. Execute.”

Martha immediately started to try to stall them, while Lily tried to focus on pulling her powers even further in.

“Now, listen.” Martha said. “I know who you're looking for. She's this woman. She calls herself Florence.”

The Judoon ignored her and scanned her.

“Human. With non-human traits suspected. Non-human element confirmed. Authorize full scan. What are you? What are you?”

Martha looked totally confused. Lily, on the other hand, looked vastly relieved when the Judoon scanned her and marked her as human. Now they just had to buy the Doctor as much time as possible.

The Judoon forced Martha to a wall to continue scanning her. Finally they managed to isolate the foreign DNA.

“ Confirmed: human. Traces of facial contact with non-human. Continue the search.”

He handed Martha a plastic card.

“What’s this for?” she asked, looking down at it.

“Compensation.”

Martha and Lily followed them down the hall and into the MRI Room. Lily was leaning on Martha at this point. When they entered and saw the Doctor on the ground, Martha began demanding that the Judoon check Mrs. Flannigan.

Lily on the other hand was more interested in what the MRI machine was doing. Whatever it was, all that electricity couldn’t be a good thing. She slid down the wall, desperately hoping she could keep control until the Doctor could stop it.

Martha finally grabbed the Judoon’s scanner and turned it on Mrs. Flannigan.

“Non-human.” The Judoon declared.

“What?” Mrs. Flannigan screeched.

“He gave his life so they’d find you.” Martha realized

The Judoon declared that she was a plasmavore and charged her with the murder of the princess of Patrival Regency Nine. She didn’t even deny it, she just ordered her remaining slab to attack, but the Judoon vaporized it. She ducked into the protected side room and completed whatever she had done to the MRI machine, sending it into overload. Lily knew, if the Doctor didn’t wake up soon, she was going to have to do something, but she didn’t know what.

Martha and Lily watched as the Judoon vaporized the plasmavore.

Martha crawled to the Doctor’s side.

“Lily!” she called “What did she mean “burn with me”? The scanner shouldn’t be doing that. She’s done something to it.”

“I know.” Lily called weakly back.

The Judoon walked over to look at the scanner.

“Scans detect lethal acceleration of monomagnetic pulse.”

“Well do something!” Martha yelled at him. “Stop it!”

“Our jurisdiction has ended. Judoon will evacuate.”

“You can’t just leave it!” Martha told them. “What’s it going to do?”

“All units withdraw.”

And with that, they left.

“You can't go. That thing's going to explode and it's all your fault.” Martha called after them.

“Martha!” Lily said sharply. “Don’t worry about that. Just get the Doctor up.   Let him worry about the scanner, and let me worry about our air supply.”

Martha began to give the Doctor CPR. Lily watched her for a second then called over.

“Martha!”

She turned and looked at her. “What?”

“He’s got two hearts.”

Martha looked back at the Doctor and nodded.

Lily closed her eyes, positive the Doctor was in good hands. The air supply was getting dangerously low. She reached inside herself, to the wall she had quickly constructed to keep her powers at bay. She sank into herself and simply, let go.

A bright golden light rolled away from her, fresh oxygen following behind. Martha quickly took a breath and continued giving the Doctor CPR.

Suddenly he sat up and Martha told him “She did something to the Scanner.”

He nodded and jumped up. He could tell that the little bit of air Lily had managed to make before she lost consciousness was quickly running out. He motioned for Martha to check on Lily and slowly made his way to the control room. He located two plugs, one red and one blue, and made the decision to pull the red one and was rewarded when the scanner shut down. He made his way back to Lily and Martha.

“Her pulse is very low.” Martha told him weakly. The air was getting thinner again. The Doctor nodded and reached down to wrap Lily’s arms around his neck, picking her up easily.

Martha followed him, stumbling, as he carried Lily down the hall way. They noticed most people seemed to be unconscious or close to it. They made their way to the window and watched at the Judoon ships took off.

“Come on, come on, come on.” He whispered as Martha sat down heavily on a bed. “Come on, Judoon, reverse it.” As it began to rain, he smiled. _“_ It's raining, Martha.” He told her, turning to find her unconscious. He turned back and looked down at Lily in his arms. “It's raining on the moon, Lily girl. Wish you could see it.”

There was a bright, white flash, and they were gone.

* * *

 

Martha sat outside the hospital while EMTs check every one out. She heard someone call “Martha!” and looked up to see Tish running towards her. She grabbed her in a hug and started babbling.

“Oh, God! I thought you were dead! What happened? It was so weird, because the police wouldn't say, they didn't have a clue. And I tried phoning, but I couldn't get through. Mum's on her way, but she couldn't get through, they've closed off all the roads…”

While her sister kept talking, Martha looked over Tish’s shoulder to see the Doctor walk away, still carrying Lily in his arms. When he spotted her, he smiled and nodded. A truck passed between them and when it passed, both he and Lily were gone.

Later that night, while she was getting ready for her brother’s party, Martha had the news on. Of course the only thing anyone wanted to talk about was what happened at the hospital.

“Eyewitness reports from the Royal Hope Hospital continue to pour in,” a reporter was saying. “and it all seems to be remarkably consistent. This from medical student Oliver Moregenstern.”

“I was there.” Moregenstern proclaimed. “I saw it happen. And I feel uniquely privileged. I looked out at the surface of the moon. I saw the Earth, suspended in space, and it all just proves Mr Saxon right. We're not alone in the universe. There's life out there: wild and extraordinary life.”

Martha smiled.

* * *

 

They had all been right. The party was a disaster.

“I am not staying in there to be insulted!” Annalise shouted, storming out.

“She didn't mean it, sweetheart.” Clive said, following her. “She just said you look healthy.”

“No, I did not.” Francine said, also following them outside. “I said orange.”

Annalise rounded on Clive. “Clive, that woman is disrespecting me. She's never liked me.”

“Oh, I can't think why, after you stole my husband.” Francine said sarcasticly.

“I was seduced.” Annalise shouted, offended. “I'm entirely innocent! Tell her, Clive!”

“And then she has a go at Martha, practically accused her of making the whole thing up.” Francine shouted right back

“Mum, I don't mind. Just leave it.” Martha said, coming outside, still trying to keep the peace.

Annalise just ignored her. “Oh. "I've been to the moon!" As if. They were drugged. It said so on the news.”

“Since when did you watch the news?” Francine asked with distain. “You can't handle "Quiz Mania".

“Annalise started it.” Tish said to her sister. “She did. I heard her.”

**“** Trish, don't make it worse.” Leo told her  
“You're talking, Leo.” Tish replied. “What did she buy you, soap? A seventy-five pence soap?”  
“Oh, I'm never talking to your family again!” Annalise shouted, storming away.

After that everyone started to talk at once and then started to storm away, leaving Martha alone. She looked across the street and saw the Doctor standing in the entrance to an alley. He smiled and walked off, so Martha quickly followed.

She found him standing in front of a blue box with Lily leaning against it.

“I went to the moon today.” She said simply as she walked up.

“A bit more peaceful than down here.” Lily said with a laugh.

“You never even told me who you are.” She told them.

“The Doctor.” “Lily Carter.” The answered simply.

“What sort of species?” she asked, and then she laughed. “It's not every day I get to ask that.”

“I’m a Time Lord.” The Doctor told her.

“Right!” she said, laughing. “Not pompous at all!”

She looked at Lily when she hesitated.

“What? It’s complicated.” She told her defensively. “Do you want the original answer, the second answer, or the really complicated answer?”

Martha shook her head. “Any of them, all of them.” She told her.

“The original answer is I’m a Time Lord, like him.” She told her, seriously. “The second answer is my parents took me and turned me into a human to hide me. And the really complicated answer is I’m not even sure. I took in a power to save the man I loved and it changed me.   I’m no longer fully human, and I’m not sure I can ever go back to being fully Time Lord.”

Martha stared at her. “I take it back. I think I was happier not knowing.”

Lily smiled. “I think I was happier not knowing too, so at least you’re not alone.”

Martha laughed at that.

“We just thought since you saved our lives and I've got a brand new sonic screwdriver which needs road testing, you might fancy a trip.” The Doctor told her with a smile.

“What, in space?” she asked.

“Well…” he trailed off.

“I can't.” she told him. “I've got exams. I've got things to do. I have to go into town first thing and pay the rent, I've got my family going mad...”

“If it helps, we can travel in time as well.” Lily told her with a smile.

“Get out of here.” She said.

“I can!” The Doctor looked at Lily. “Why does no one ever believe I can travel in time?” Lily just smiled and laid a comforting hand on his arm.

“Come on, now, that’s going too far.” Martha told him.

“I’ll prove it.” The Doctor told her, ushering Lily into the TARDIS.

Martha watched as the box disappeared. She walked to where it was, then backed up when she heard it coming back.

The Doctor walked out with his tie in his hand and Lily following behind with an indulgent smile.

“See?” he asked, holding up the tie. “Told you!”

“Child.” Lily said, obviously amused. He just hushed her.

“I know, but...” She gasped. “That was this morning! But - Did you... Oh, my God! You can travel in time!”

Lily just laughed as the Doctor put his tie back on.

“But hold on, if you could see me this morning, why didn't you tell me not to go in to work?” she asked.

“Crossing into established events is strictly forbidden.” He told her seriously.

“Except for cheap tricks.” Lily continued, just as serious.

Martha looked at the TARDIS. “And that’s your spaceship?”

The Doctor nodded. “It’s called the TARDIS.” He told her. “Time and Relative Dimension in Space.”

“Your spaceship’s made of wood.” She said. “And there’s not much space. It’ be kinda intimate.”

“Hey!” Lily scolded. “No knocking the TARDIS.” She ran her hand over the door. “She’s sensitive.”

Martha ignored her, purely because she had no idea what she was talking about.

The Doctor pushed open the doors and stood back.

“Take a look.”

Martha walked slowly through the doors and they quickly back through them.

“Oh, no, no, no.” she said as she ran back out. She stood staring at it. “But it’s just a box. But it’s huge. How does it do that? It’s wood.” She said, knocking on the side. She walked back inside. “It's like a box with that room just rammed in.” She paused and smiled. “It's bigger on the inside.” She said, not noticing the Doctor and Lily mouthing the words along with her.

“Is it?” the Doctor asked as Lily walked past Martha, laughing all the way. “I hadn’t noticed.” He shut the doors and threw his coat over a column. “Alright, let’s get going!” he said as he joined Lily at the counsel.

“But is there a crew? Like a navigator and stuff? Where is everyone?” Martha asked.

“Just me.” The Doctor told her.

“All on your own.” She said. “But what about Lily?” she asked.

“Lily’s a special case.” He said.

“And if you stick around long enough, I’ll tell you about it.” Lily told her.

“Other times, I have guests.” He continued. “I mean some friends, travelling alongside. I had - there was recently a friend of mine. Rose, her name was, Rose. And... we were together. Anyway.”

Martha watched as Lily moved over and grabbed the Doctor’s hand. He looked down at her and smiled softly.

“Where is she now?” Martha asked.

The Doctor seemed to recover some of his composure.

“With her family.” He told her. “Happy. She's fine. Not that you're replacing her.” He said, pointing at Martha.

“Never said I was.” Martha said, immediately going on the defense.

“Just one trip to say 'thanks', you get one trip, then back home.” He told her. “I'd rather be on my own.”

“Is Lily leaving?” she asked shrewdly.

The Doctor glared at her. “I told you, Lily is a special case. She’s not a guest.”

“What the Doctor is explaining so badly is, this ship, she’s a part of me and I’m a part of her. The power I took in?” she asked, waiting for Martha to nodded her understanding, “It was the raw power of the Time Vortex, the power a TARDIS runs on. It changed my biology so I could handle it, so I could channel it. But it made it so I’m connected to the TARDIS. Which makes this the only home I have.”

Martha nodded. She looked at the Doctor slyly. “You still kissed me.”

Lily groaned and the Doctor now was defensive.

“That was a genetic transfer.” He told her.

“And if you will wear a tight suit…”

“Stop.” Lily told her seriously.

Martha realized she was about to step over a line obviously and tried to back track.

“Just for the record,” she told him. “I’m not remotely interested. I only go for humans.” She ignored the look Lily was giving her. She was sure she didn’t believe her for a second. The Doctor, on the other hand, decided to move on.

“Good.” He said. “Well, then. Lily, close down the gravitic anomalizer.   Fire up helmic regulator.   And finally-“ he reached down and pulled down a lever. “The hand brake.” He grinned. “Ready?”

“No.”

“Off we go!”

They were all thrown off their feet.

“Blimey, it’s a bit bumpy!” Martha yelled, holding on for dear life.

Lily just laughed as the Doctor held out his hand.

“Welcome aboard, Miss Jones.”

Martha grabbed his hand. “It’s my pleasure, Mr. Smith!”

“Lets have some fun!” Lily called.

And off the went.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And Smith and Jones is done. Let me know what you think.
> 
> Abbey


	21. Beginning to Let Go

Disclaimer: If you believe that I own Doctor Who, then I have a very lovely villa in the south of France that I’d like to sell you.

Ch.21: Beginning to Let Go

The Doctor, Lily and Martha had been thrown around the TARDIS for the last few minutes when a fuse blew and everything shut down.

“Are we there?” Martha asked curiously.

“No.” Lily answered as the Doctor started muttering and whacking things. “We’re in the vortex.” She smiled at Martha. “You might want to get comfortable, this could take awhile.” The two women moved over to the jump seat and watched as the Doctor tried to fix his beloved ship, his frustration mounting with every passing minute. As they watched the Doctor go to town on the counsel with his mallet, Martha turned to Lily.

“Aren’t you afraid that that’s going to break?” Martha asked, pointing to the counsel the Doctor was currently beating the crap out of.

“During moments of peak frustration.” Lily replied, her smile betraying the serious voice she used. “But it’s always held up. That console’s a game player.”

The Doctor rounded on her.

“You talk to her!” he shouted. “She’s being contrary and going on about how I should be nicer to people. I can’t deal with this.” He turned back around and muttered loud enough for them to hear. “This never would have happened if Rose were still here.”

Lily saw to flash of hurt across Martha’s face and decided enough was enough. She had noticed that the Doctor was getting more irritable as days went by, but this was the last straw. Being snippy and sarcastic to her and the TARDIS was one thing, but Martha wasn’t prepared for it.

Lily got up and pulled Martha with her to the door way.

“Girl, can you show Martha to the kitchen?” She asked the TARDIS. She watched as the TARDIS rearranged the corridors so the kitchen was right down the hall from the control room, and then she turned to Martha. “Can you give the Doctor and me a moment?” she asked. “You can eat anything you find in the kitchen, except for the bananas and the cantaloupe.” She smiled and gave Martha an encouraging nod and watched till Martha reached the kitchen and the door shut. Then she rounded on the Doctor.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, all traces of humor gone.

“Nothing’s wrong.” He spat at her. “Everyone is conspiring against me, that’s all.”

“No one is conspiring against you, Doctor. So let’s try this again, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He repeated.

“Ok, fine.” She said moving next to him while he studiously ignored her. “Then tell me why you just deliberately hurt the TARDIS and me, not to mention Martha, who isn’t used to your crap and doesn’t know that you don’t really mean it.”

He didn’t answer her. She sighed and grabbed the hand that was quickly moving and stilled it.

“Let go of me.” He said, trying to pull out of her grasp, but she was much stronger than she looked.

“I meant it when I said I forget it’s only been a few weeks.” She told him quietly. “I also forget I’m not the only one who lost someone.” He refused to look at her. “I will never be able to repay you for what you’ve done for me. You took me in, gave me a home, and took care of me while I was a wreak. You are still taking care of me.” She made him look at her. “But now it’s time for you to let me take care of you for awhile.” She said softly.

“I don’t need you to.” He told her trying to end the discussion.

But Lily wouldn’t let him. “Yes you do.” She told him. “You’re in pain, and if you don’t let me help you, it’s going to eat you up inside.” She smiled at him. “You once told me you knew where I was because you had been there and that you knew the way out. Now let me show you the way.”

He looked away, but not before she saw a tear roll down his face.

“Doctor…” she said softly.

“She’s gone.” His voice broke. “She’s really gone, and she’s not coming back.” He turned to face her, tears running down his face. “What am I supposed to do?”

Lily pulled him to her and held him as he cried for the woman he had loved and lost, tears filling her own eyes.

“You’re supposed to remember that she’s alive, with her family. You’re supposed to remember the good times. You’re supposed to let yourself mourn for her. You’re supposed to grieve.” She kept holding him, murmuring soothing words.

“God we’re a pair.” She told him when he had calmed. He chuckled and pulled her into a tight hug.

“Thank you for not leaving me.” He told her.

“For as long as you want me, I’m gonna be here.” She told him softly. “I’m gonna be here to keep you grounded while you keep me together.” She smiled at him. “Because, let’s face it, I’ve got nowhere else to go. You’re kinda stuck with me.”

He laughed outright at her and they moved to try to figure out what was wrong with the TARDIS. Now that she had gotten her way though, she was willing to let him fix her while she and Lily made fun of him. When the last repair was done, Lily went and got Martha. If she noticed either Lily’s or the Doctor’s red eyes, she didn’t mention it.

“Everything fixed?” She asked as she walked in.

The Doctor looked at Lily and smiled, and she returned it.

“Yeah, or it will be.” He told her.

“Well let’s go then!”

Lily and the Doctor laughed. He threw a switch and they were all thrown to the ground again.

“We have got to take a moment sometime,” Lily yelled to him, “and teach you how to actually drive this thing!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I know it’s really short, but I wanted some sort of interlude that dealt with the Doctor’s issues. Let me know what you think!
> 
> Abbey


	22. The Shakespeare Code - Ye Olde England

Disclaimer: I only own Doctor who every 32 day of the month.

Ch.22: The Shakespeare Code-Ye Olde England

The Doctor, Lily and Martha crashed into the floor as the TARDIS landed. The Doctor and Lily laid there laughing as Martha gingerly sat up.

“Blimey! Do you have to pass a test to fly this thing?” Martha asked.

“Yes.” The Doctor.

Lily butted in. “He failed.” She just grinned when he glared at her.

“Now,” he continued, “make the most of it.” He grabbed Lily’s and his coats and handed Lily hers while putting on his. “I promised you one trip and one trip only. Outside that door…” he and Lily stood at the door, “Brave new world.”

“Where are we?” Martha asked.

“Take a look.” Lily told her with a grin.

The Doctor opened the door. “After you.”

Martha walked out of the TARDIS and into Elizabethan London.

“ Oh, you are kidding me.” She whispered.  “You are _so_ kidding me. Oh, my God!  We did it.  We traveled in time. Where are we?  No, sorry.  I gotta get used to this whole new language.  When are we?” she asked.

Lily quickly pulled her back as a man called from above “Mind the loo!”

“Somewhere before the invention of the toilet.” The Doctor told her after she had recovered. “Sorry about that.”

“I’ve seen worse.  I’ve worked the late night shift at A&E.” she told him. He and Lily started to walk off, but she hesitated. “But are we safe?” she asked.  “I mean, can we move around and stuff?”

The Doctor gave her an odd look. “Of course we can. Why do you ask?”

“It’s like in the films.” She told him.  “You step on a butterfly; you change the future of the human race.”

The Doctor looked totally confused, while Lily just looked like she found the whole thing amusing.

“Well, tell you what then,” he finally told her. “don’t step on any butterflies.  What have butterflies ever done to you?” He shook his head and started walking again.

“What if I don’t know, what if I kill my grandfather ?” she asked, catching up to them again.

The Doctor turned and gave Lily a look, and she held up her hand defensively.

“If she’s a murderer, how is that my fault?” she asked him but he just kept looking at her. She turned to Martha.

“Look, are you planning on killing your grandfather?” she asked her.

“No.”

“Good.” She turned back to the Doctor. “Get off my back.”

“This is London.” Martha said, looking around.

“I think so.” The Doctor answered. “Right around 1599.”

“1595.” Lily told him.

“How do you know that?” he asked, curious.

She grinned. “My spidey sense.” She told him, and then laughed at his confused look. “My…gifts.” She explained.

“You can tell what year it is? Exactly?” he asked.

“Yep.” She told him, nodding. “To the exact date, no matter what.”

“That’s useful.” He stated.

“Isn’t it though?”

“Oh, but hold on.” Martha said, worried. “I’m not gonna get carted off as a slave, am I?”

“Why would they do that?” The Doctor asked, bemused.

Martha and Lily shared an amused look. “Not exactly white, in case you haven’t noticed.” Martha told him.

“We’re not even human.” He said pointing at himself and Lily.  “Just walk about like you own the place.  Works for me.”

“Only part of the time.” Lily muttered to Martha, who giggled.

“ Besides, you’d be surprised.” He continued on, not hearing Lily’s comment.  “Elizabethan England, not so different from your time.  Look over there.” He said pointing.  “They’ve got recycling.” They saw a man shoveling manure. “Water cooler moment.” He told them, pointing out two men talking around a barrel. Suddenly a man walked by shouting, “…and the world will be consumed by flame!”

The Doctor turned and looked at them. “Global Warming. Oh, yes, and...” They turned a corner and were confronted with the sight of The Globe. “Entertainment!  Popular entertainment for the masses.” He grinned at them. “The Globe Theater!  Brand new. Just opened.  Through, strictly speaking, it’s not a globe; it’s a tetra decagon — 14 sides — containing the man himself.” He stood there, obviously very proud of himself.

“Whoa, you don’t mean-“ Martha looked totally stunned. “Is Shakespeare in there?”

“Oh yes.” He held out both his arms. “Miss Jones, Ms. Carter, will you accompany me to the theater?”

Martha linked her arm in his with a smile. “Yes, I will, Mr. Smith.”

“When you get home, you can tell everyone you’ve seen Shakespeare.” He told her.

“And then I could get sectioned.” She replied.

The Doctor looked at Lily, waiting for her to take his arm. She just looked at him.

“It’s like women’s rights never happened in that head of yours.” She told him.

“Just take my arm.” He ordered.

She sighed and grumbled but eventually linked his arm with hers.

And off they went.

“Did you just call me _Ms._ Carter?”

* * *

 

Love’s Labours Lost was amazing.

The smell was not.

“That was amazing!” Martha gushed. “It was even worth putting up with the smell for.”

“No it wasn’t.” Lily complained. “Please promise me, the next time you get it in that twisted head of yours that we should go to the theater, you’ll choose a time after indoor plumbing.”

Martha and The Doctor just ignored her grumbling.

“And those are men dressed as women, yeah?” she asked the Doctor.

“London never changes.” He told her with a smile.

“Must be why Jack loves it so much.” Lily said to him with a smile.

“Where’s Shakespeare?” Martha called. “I wanna see Shakespeare. Author! Author!” she started calling with a raised fist. She turned to Lily and the Doctor. “Do people shout that?” she asked. “Do they shout Author?”

“Isn’t that the question you should have asked before you started shouting your head off?” Lily groused. They looked around as people took up the chant.

“Well…They do now.” The Doctor said.

Suddenly the crowd went wild as the man himself came out on to the stage. When he walked out the roar of the crowd doubled, then tripled as he blew them a kiss.

“Jeez, I’ve been to tamer rock concerts.” Lily shouted over the noise.

“He’s a bit different from his portraits.” Martha commented.

“Genius. He’s a genius - THE genius.” The Doctor practically gushed. “The most human Human that’s ever been. Now we’re gonna hear him speak.” If anything, he got more excited.  “Always, he chooses the best words.  New, beautiful, brilliant words.”

“Fangirl much?” Lily whispered to Martha, who giggled and nodded.

“Shut your big fat mouths!” Shakespeare shouted.

Martha and Lily dissolved into laughter at the look of disappointment on the Doctor’s face. When they finally recovered enough to speak, Martha eked out “You should-ha- never-ha ha ha….”

When she couldn’t go on, Lily finished for her. “Meet your heroes.” At this point, she and Martha were holding each other up. “My god, your face!”

“You have excellent taste!  I’ll give you that.” Shakespeare continued. He suddenly pointed at a man in the audience and said, “Oh, that’s wig!”, causing them all to laugh again. “I know what you’re all saying.  'Loves Labour’s Lost', that’s a funny ending, isn’t it?” he said.  “It just stops!  Will the boys get the girls?  Well, don’t get your hose in a tangle, you’ll find out soon.  Yeah, yeah.” He yelled over them when they started to complain. “All in good time.  You don’t rush a genius.” He paused and kind of jerked, but the only ones to notice really were the Doctor and Lily, who exchanged a look.

“When?” Shakespeare suddenly yelled. “Tomorrow night.” The crowd cheered as the actors looked around in confusion.

“Something isn’t right here.” Lily whispered to the Doctor, who nodded.

“The premiere of my brand new play.” Shakespeare announced.  “A sequel, no less, and I call it 'Love’s Labour’s Won'!” The crowd went nuts, including Martha. The only silent ones seemed to be the actors and The Doctor and Lily.

* * *

 

As they waited for the crowd to move out, the three time travelers began discussing what had just happened.

“I’m not an expert,” Martha said, “but I’ve never heard of Love’s Labour’s Won.”

“That’s cause it doesn’t exist.” Lily told her.

“Exactly-the lost play.” The Doctor said. “It doesn’t exist-only in rumor.” He looked perplexed. “It’s mentioned in lists of his plays but never ever turns up.  No one knows why.”

Martha got really excited. “Have you got a mini-disk or something?  We could tape it.  We can flog it.  Sell it when we get home and make a mint.”

The Doctor and Lily stared at her.

“No.” the Doctor told her.

“That would be bad?” Martha asked.

“You think?” Lily asked her sarcastically.

“Well, how come it disappeared in the first place?” Martha wanted to know.

Lily and the Doctor exchanged a look. A whole conversation seemed to take place in a matter of seconds. Then the Doctor turned back to Martha, “Well, I was just gonna give you a quick little trip in the TARDIS, but I suppose we could stay a bit longer.” He told her with a smile.

Lily held out her hand and the Doctor grasped it.

“Shall we go see the bard?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I know it’s short but I’ve been struggling with it, so I figure, get it out and just start fresh. Tell me what you think.
> 
> Abbey


	23. The Shakespeare Code - Ye Olde Bard

Disclaimer: Ok so the BBC has stopped returning my phone calls, so what? My resolve has not weakened. If forced to, I shall lay siege, but I will not be deterred! *grabs a sword to go attack the BBC Wales but is stopped by airport security* What do you mean, I can’t take my sword?

Ch.23: The Shakespeare Code-Ye Olde Bard

The three time travelers asked around and were pointed to a nearby inn.

“I’m warning you now,” Lily told them as they headed in that direction, “if this place is called ‘The Wandering Bard’, I’m going straight back to the TARDIS and you two are on your own.”

The Doctor just smiled at her, squeezing her hand. “Like you could resist a mystery this big.” He replied. “A chance to find out what happened to one of the greatest playwrights’ plays?” He gave her a patronizing look. “I don’t think so.”

“Shut up.” She told him with a glare.

“Well you’re in luck.” Martha said as they walked up to the inn. “It’s not the Wandering Bard.” She pointed to the sign that said The Elephant Inn.

“Do you suppose the shmuck who named this had ever even seen an Elephant?” Lily asked sullenly.

“Come now,” the Doctor bent down to whisper in her ear. “Be nice.”

“But being bad is so much more fun.” She told him with a sly smile.

He tapped her playfully on the nose. “Stop it.” He told her grinning.

She grinned back. “If you insist.”

They walked in and found the lower room bustling. They quickly made their way to the bar and asked the woman behind it to direct them to William Shakespeare. When she balked, the Doctor flashed his physic paper and she quickly changed her tune. As they made their way to the room she had indicated, Lily just had to ask.

“So who did you con her into believing you were?” she asked him.

“Hey I don’t con anyone!” he claimed indignantly. “Jack’s the one who does the conning.”

“What do you call tricking someone into believing you’re someone you’re not?” she shot back smugly.

He glared at her. “I thought you were going to be nice.” He said as they climbed the stairs.

“I changed my mind.”

They made their way to the room and the Doctor knocked on the side.

“Hello!” he called. “Excuse me! I’m not interrupting am I? Mr. Shakespeare, isn’t it?”

“ Oh no, no, no, no.” He immediately started to protest. “Who let you in?  No autographs.  No, you can’t have yourself sketched with me. And please don’t ask where I get my ideas from. Thanks for the interest.  Now be a good boy and shove-“ He suddenly spotted Martha as the Doctor walked in the room. _“_ Hey, nonny nonny.” He said with a lascivious smile.  “Sit right down here next to me.” He turned to the two men sitting with him. _“_ You two get sewing on them costumes.  Off you go.” The two men exchanged a look and got up quickly. 

Martha gave the Doctor and Lily a look and went to sit in the chair across from Shakespeare.

“You know, dear sir, if I didn’t love my friend so much, I might be insulted by your lack of courtesy.” Lily told him as she passed the Doctor, taking a moment to grin up at him. He grinned back and moved to stand behind her as she sat gracefully in the chair next to Martha’s. She winked at Martha while getting settled and Martha chuckled.

“I’m so sorry my dear lady.” Shakespeare told Lily, oozing charm. “Forgive me, but only a fool would risk a goddess’s wrath, and I seem to be in the presence of two.” He smiled at her. “One must make allowances for my loss of wit. For what man could keep his head in the company of such fine ladies?”

Martha and Lily exchanged a look. Lily felt the Doctor’s hand tighten on her shoulder and she looked up to see the strangest expression on his face. If she didn’t know better, she might have mistaken it for a flash of jealousy. She reached up and grasped the hand on her shoulder and opened her mind to his.

_Are you alright?_ She asked him silently.

He looked down at her and smiled. _Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?_ He asked.

She just shook her head and turned her attention back to Shakespeare.

“Such unusual clothes” he told them. “So…Fitted.”

Martha smiled. “Um, verily, forsooth, egads.” She said, trying to use what she thought was the lingo.

“No, no don’t do that.” The Doctor told her while Lily mouthed ‘egads?’. Martha just shrugged and the Doctor decided that that would be a good time to butt in.

“I’m Sir Doctor of TARDIS,” he told Shakespeare, holding up the physic paper. “and these are my companions, Miss Martha Jones and…”

“Lady Lily Carter, also of TARDIS.” Lily finished smugly. The Doctor gave her a look and asked silently _Lady?_

_You and Rose were knighted by Queen Victoria, My Doctor and I were given titles by Queen Elizabeth I._ she told him in a superior tone. _Lord Doctor and Lady Lily of TARDIS._

The Doctor just shook his head.

They were both brought back to reality by Shakespeare’s next comment.

“Interesting, that bit of paper.” He said casually. “It’s blank.”

Lily and the Doctor stared at him in shock, while Martha looked at the paper confused.

“I take back everything I ever said about this time period.” Lily said, grinning. “I absolutely love him.”

“Oh that’s…very clever.” The Doctor said, his grin matching Lily’s. “That proves it. Absolute genius.”

Martha was still staring at the paper. “No, it says so right there.” She said, pointing at the paper. “Sir Doctor, Lady Lily, and Martha Jones.  It says so.”

“Hey how come you’re name comes first?” Lily whispered. “I’m a lady and you’re just a knight. I should come first.”

“Seriously, you want to quibble over who’s name comes first?” he asked her, astonished. “Seriously?”

“I’m just saying.” Lily grumbled.

“And I say the paper is blank.” Shakespeare said, watching the two of them bicker with a smile.

“ Psychic paper.” The Doctor finally told Martha.  “Um, long story.” He grimaced. “Oh, I hate starting from scratch.”

“Psychic.” Shakespeare said, watching the Doctor put it away.  “Never heard that before and words are my trade.” He leaned back in the chair.  “Who are you exactly?  More’s the point, who are your delicious blackmoore lady and your golden goddess?”

“Why did you call me a golden goddess?” Lily asked seriously before anyone could say anything.

He looked confused. “I just did. Why would it matter?”

She looked at the playwright strangely. “Because nothing about me is golden. Not my hair, nor my skin. So why would you call me golden?”

He stared at her. “I don’t know.” He looked even more confused. “I suppose you glow golden.”

Lily leaned back, looking even more impressed. “Oh he is special.” She said to the Doctor, her eyes never leaving Shakespeare. “He can see the aura the vortex gives off.” She finally turned to face the Doctor. “Only two other people I’ve ever met could see it: Gwen Cooper and Jack Harkness. And even he couldn’t see it till I brought him back.”

The Doctor looked at Shakespeare, shocked. But before he could say anything, Shakespeare interrupted.

“Many of the words you use are so strange!” he said. “But you still haven’t answered the question. We will leave the one about the goddess, but tell me, who is my black lady?”

“What did you say?” Martha asked shocked.

“Oops.” He said with a grin.  “Isn’t that a word we use nowadays?  An Ethiop girl?  A swarth?  A Queen of Africa...”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this.” Martha said with a hint of a blush.

“It’s political correctness gone mad.” Lily said dryly.

“Um, Martha’s from a far-off land.” The Doctor said quickly, before Lily could go off on political correctness.  “Freedonia.”

_Freedonia!?_ Lily asked silently, laughing madly inside their heads.

_Shut up._ He told her, which only made her laugh harder.

“Excuse me!”

They turned to find a fat man standing in the doorway, looking quite irate.

“Hold hard a moment.” He said entering the room.  “This is abominable behaviour.  A new play with no warning?  I demand to see a script, Mr. Shakespeare.” He actually puffed himself up. Lily couldn’t believe he actually managed to do that. She had never actually seen someone do that.  “As Master of the Revels, every new script must be registered at my office and examined by me before it can be performed.”

Shakespeare held up his hands.

“Tomorrow morning, first thing,” he told him, “I’ll send it ‘round.”

“I don’t work to your schedule, you work to mine.” The man told Shakespeare, becoming, if at all possible, even more irate.  “The script, now!”

“I can’t.” Shakespeare protested.

“Then tomorrow’s performance is cancelled.” He told him.

“It’s all going on round here, isn’t it?” Lily whispered.

“I’m returning to my office for a banning order.” The man said as he stalked to the door.  “If it’s the last thing I do, 'Love’s Labours Won' will never be played.”

“I’m so glad he didn’t have a door to slam.” Lily said blandly.

The bar maid brought them all drinks. Lily took one look at the ale, and pushed it as far from her as she could.

“Do you not care for spirits?” Shakespeare asked her.

“Not ale.” She told him. “And even if I did, I’ve promised I won’t drink.” She said with a nod to the Doctor.

“Your accent is so strange.” He said. “Do you also come from Freedonia?”

Lily laughed. “I suppose I do.”

They sat in silence for a moment.

“Well, then...” Martha said, “mystery solved.  That’s 'Love’s Labours Won' over and done with.  Thought it might be something more, you know... more mysterious.”

Suddenly a scream rang out.

The Doctor and Lily were up and running before Martha and Shakespeare could even register what was happening, but they quickly caught up. They made their way to the courtyard to find the man from earlier lying in the street.

“ It’s that Lynley bloke.” Martha said. **  
**“What’s wrong with him?” The Doctor asked. “Leave it to men— I’m a doctor.” He moved to the man’s side.

**“** So am I –“ Martha said, following closely. “Near enough.”

“I guess that leaves me with crowd control.” Lily said, taking up a place between the two of them and the people pushing forward.

The Doctor took off down the street, looking for what, they didn’t know, while Martha checked the man’s vitals.

“Gotta get the heart going.” She muttered.  “Mr Lynley, c’mon, can you hear me?  You’re gonna be all right.” She bent over to perform c.p.r. just as the Doctor was returning. She got close to the man’s mouth when suddenly water gushed from his mouth and Martha jumped back. “What the hell is that?” she asked.

“I’ve never seen a death like that.” Lily said, coming to stand next to the Doctor and slipping her hand into his.

“His lungs are full of water —“ the Doctor said quietly. “he drowned and then... I dunno, like a blow to the heart, an invisible blow.” He turned to the lady of the inn.“ Good mistress, this poor fellow has died from a sudden imbalance of the humours.” He told her. “A natural if unfortunate demise. Call a constable and have him taken away.”

“Yes, sir.” She said, turning quickly to do as he said, when a young maid came up and told her she would make sure it was done. She nodded and went back into the inn.

“And why are we telling them that?” Martha asked.

“This lot still have got one foot in the Dark Ages.” The Doctor told her. “If I tell them the truth, they’ll panic and think it was witchcraft.”

“Okay, what was it then?” She asked.

The Doctor and Lily exchanged a dark look. Finally the Doctor finally turned and answered Martha.

“Witchcraft.”

Lily groaned. “I’m going back to the TARDIS.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Second installment. Done and done. By now, you should know the drill. REVIEW!!! Thank you.
> 
> Abbey


	24. The Shakespeare Code - Ye Olde Magic

Disclaimer: If I owned DW I would tie David Tennant up till he agreed to stay.

Ch.24: The Shakespeare Code-Ye Olde Magic

After the hustle had died down, the mistress of the inn came to find the trio.

“I got you a room, Sir Doctor.  You, Lady Lily and Miss Jones are just across the landing. I’m sorry but we only have one room available, I hope that will be alright.” She told them.

“I’m sure it will be just fine.” The Doctor said immediately, slamming a hand over Lily’s mouth. He waited while she walked away and then removed his hand.

“Was it really necessary to lick my hand?” he asked wiping his hand on her arm.

“Was it really necessary to try to suffocate me?” she asked, scowling.

“Is it really necessary for you two to act like children?” Martha asked. Lily just smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“Yep.”

Martha just shook her head.

“Poor Lynley.” Shakespeare said sadly.  “So many strange events. Not least of all, this land of Freedonia where a woman can be a doctor?” he said slyly to Martha.

“Where a woman can do what she likes.” She replied smugly.

“Not a word.” The Doctor said as Lily opened her mouth. She glared at him and shut it.

“And you, Sir Doctor.  How can a man so young have eyes so old?” He asked, turning to face the Time Lord.

The Doctor gave him a carefree smile. “I do a lot of reading.”

Shakespeare smiled in response. “A trite reply.” He told him. “Yeah. That’s what I’d do.” He turned to Lily.

“You, who makes light of everything, you see the world as varying shades of pain.” He told her. “You hope your jokes will hide the despair so deep you can barely function. And the fear which causes you to feel that if you lose sight of him for just a moment, he’ll disappear.”

“A natural reaction to having everything ripped from you.” She told him darkly.

He nodded his agreement and turned to Martha. “And you, you look at them like you’re surprised they exist.  They’re as much of a puzzle to you as they are to me.”

Martha just looked at the Doctor and Lily nervously. “I think we should say goodnight.” She told them.

Lily nodded. “Go on up.” She told her. “We’re right behind you.”

With a final nod to the group, Martha made her way up.

“I must work.  I have a play to complete.” Shakespeare told them.  “But I’ll get my answers tomorrow, Doctor, and I’ll discover more about you and why this constant performance of yours.” 

The Doctor and Lily walked with him to the door.

_Why do I have a sudden, irrational fear of what you’re about to say?_ Lily asked the Doctor silently.

He just grinned at her and turned to Shakespeare and said, “All the world’s a stage.”

“Hmm,” the playwright said, thoughtfully. “I might use that.” He smiled, “Good night Doctor, Lady Lily.”

They both smiled.

“Nighty-night, Shakespeare.” The Doctor told him with a grin.

“Excuse him, he’s a moron.” Lily told him. “Good night, Shakespeare.”

With that Shakespeare made his way out, turning only once to watch as Lily smacked the Doctor upside the head as they walked back in. Chuckling to himself, he made his way into the room and got down to work.

* * *

 

“What was that for?” The Doctor whined as they made their way into the room.

“ ‘All the world’s a stage’?” She asked, disbelieving. “Really?”

“What?” he asked, looking genuinely confused.

She just stared at him. “Martha was right. You are a child.”

He just stood there as she walked in the room. “Hey! She was talking about you too.” He called after her and then followed her in.

They found Martha inspecting the small room they had been given.

“It’s not exactly five-star, is it?” she asked them, still looking around.

The Doctor turned and stared at Lily.

“What?” she asked. “I didn’t say anything.”

“It’s been less than a day, and already you’re rubbing off on her.” He told her.

“So let me get this straight.” She said. “I’m not only going to get in trouble for what I say, but for what Martha says too?”

“Yes.”

“Just checking.”

He turned back to Martha. “It’ll do.” He told her. “I’ve seen worse.”

“I’ve lived in worse.” Lily said softly walking past him to the window. He stared after her for a moment, then went back to listening to Martha.

“I haven’t even got a toothbrush.” She was saying.

The Doctor reached into a pocket and pulled one out and handed it to her. “Contains Venusian spearmint.” He told her.

“Got one with cinnamon in there?” Lily called. He reached back into his pocket, took one out and chucked it at her head. He smirked when she grabbed it out of the air and pulled it down to look at it.

“Thanks.” She said.

“So, who’s going where?” Martha asked.  “I mean, there’s only one bed.”

The Doctor shrugged. “We’ll manage.” He told her. “Come on.”

He flopped down on the bed.

“So, magic and stuff.” She said, still standing off to the side.  “That’s a surprise.  It’s a little bit 'Harry Potter'.” She gave a little laugh.

“Wait till you read Book Seven.” He told her.  “Oh, I cried.”

“I will never forget that.” Lily said with a laugh, moving to join them. “You, Jack, and Ianto. Sitting in the Hub, bawling your eyes out. Gwen and I haven’t ever laughed that hard.”

“But is it real, though?” Martha interrupted.  “I mean, witches, black magic and all that, it’s real?”

“ ’Course it isn’t.” The Doctor told her, scoffing.

“Well, how am I supposed to know?” She asked, defensively.  “I’ve only just started believing in time travel.  Give me a break.”

“Looks like witchcraft, but it isn’t.” he said, going into his own mind.  “Can’t be.  Are you gonna stand there all night?” he asked, suddenly switching tracks.

Lily watched as Martha went and sat on the bed next to him. The Doctor looked up as he suddenly felt a flash of something across the link they had started in Shakespeare’s office. It was less than a second, but it had felt almost like jealousy. He brushed it off, thinking he must have been mistaken. Just to be safe though, he shut down the link. Or he tried.

“Uh, Lily?” he asked. “Have you tried closing off the link?” he asked her hesitantly.

Martha gave them an odd look, but they ignored it.

“No, why?” she asked.

“Just try.” He told her.

She closed her eyes. A few moments past as her face got more and more scrunched up. Suddenly her eyes popped open.

“I can’t.” she said, shocked.

“I can’t either.” He told her.

She stared at him. “Ok I don’t want to panic here, but could you please get the hell out of my head?” she asked him.

“Believe me,” he told her, closing his eyes and concentrating. “I would if I could.” He opened his eyes and looked at her, confused. “I don’t understand this.” Suddenly a look of slightly less confused understanding appeared on his face. “It’s almost like we’ve…” he trailed off. “You didn’t happen to ever start the bonding process, did you?” he asked her.

She looked at him, confused. “Yeah, a few months before…” she broke off. “How did you-?” Her jaw dropped. “You’re him.” She whispered.

 He nodded. “Technically.”

“So we’re…?” she asked, not able to finish.

He nodded again. Seeing the look of pain on her face, he reached out and pulled her to him so she was sitting on the bed in front of him.

“Lily.” He said. When she wouldn’t look at him, he reached out and lifted her face till her eyes met his. “If you want, there are ways to break it.” He told her. “They hurt, but we could do it.” He made sure she was looking at him before continuing. “We don’t have to go through with it.”

She took a deep breath. “What do you think?” she asked him.

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter what I think.” He told her, but she shook her head.

“It’s as much your decision as it is mine.” She told him. “I’m not the only one who lost someone.” She whispered.

He looked down and it was her turn to make him look at her.

He sighed and said, “I don’t hate having you in my head.” He told her.

She smirked. “Thank you for the glowing complement.” She told him, her voice thick with sarcasm. She then smiled softly. “It is kinda nice not being all alone.” She told him softly.

“We could let it be for now.” He told her. “It will take several weeks for it to become permanent. We could wait and see.”

She thought for a second and then nodded. She then leaned over and wrapped him in a hug.

“Can someone tell me what’s going on?” Martha asked, crossly.

Lily looked up at the Doctor. _We’ve got to stop prompting that question._ She told him.

He just smiled down at her.

“Never mind.” Martha said, seeing they weren’t going to answer. Lily got back up and moved back to the window. “There’s not much room.” Martha said.  “Us two here, same bed.  Tongues will wag.”

“Then their heads will explode when I kick him out and take his place.” Lily called.

“There’s such a thing as psychic energy,” he told them, ignoring they conversation and continuing on with the previous one. “but a human couldn’t channel it like that.  Not without a generator the size of Taunton and I think we’d have spotted that.”

“Says the man who missed the London Eye.” Lily butted in.

He glared at her and turned so he was lying on his side with his back facing her. “No.  There’s something I’m missing, Martha.” He sighed. “Something really close, staring me right in the face and I can’t see it. Rose would know. A friend of mine, Rose.  Right now, she’d say exactly the right thing.” He rolled onto his back and sighed again. “Still, can’t be helped.  You’re a novice, never mind.  I’ll take you back home tomorrow.”

Lily snickered as she watched Martha get offended and huff “Great!”.

“Come on.” She said reaching down and pulling him up. “Let Martha and I get some sleep. The mighty Time Lord can stand watch.” She laughed as she watched him puff up with pride then deflate as her sarcasm sunk in. Martha leaned over and blew out the candle.

* * *

 

A few hours later Martha was asleep, while the Doctor and Lily were still wide awake. Lily lay on her side looking at the Doctor, who sat in a chair next to the bed. She reached out and took his hand.

_Will was right, I am afraid of losing sight of you._ She told him. _I didn’t feel like this in the TARDIS. But every time I close my eyes, I’m afraid that when I open them, you’ll be gone and I’ll be alone._

He squeezed her hand. _Close your eyes._ He told her. She gave him a strange look but did as he asked. He let go of her hand and her eyes sprang back open. _Keep them shut._ He told her. She gave him a wary look but did as he asked. _Now feel for the link. Feel it?_ He grinned as she nodded. _That’s one of the good things about it. You’ll always know I’m there if you need me._

She opened her eyes and looked at him. _And vice versa._ She told him.

He squeezed her hand again. _And vice versa._ He agreed.

She smiled softly and closed her eyes again, keeping them shut this time. She had just started to drift off, the Doctor still holding her hand, when a scream split the night.

Like a shot, Lily and the Doctor were up and through the door, Martha a few seconds behind them.

As they entered Shakespeare’s room, they found Dolly on the ground. The Doctor went to her to find her dead, while Lily and Martha went to the window.

“Wha’?” Shakespeare asked, confused. “Wha’ was that?”

“Doctor?” Martha called, her eyes not leaving the window.

He came and joined them at the window. “What did you see?” he asked them.

Martha and Lily stared at each other, at a loss for words.

“You know how you said there was no such thing as witches?” Lily asked him.

He nodded. “Yeah. Why, what did you see?”

Martha and Lily looked at each other again. Finally Martha answered.

“A witch.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: You know the drill: REVIEW!!!!!!!!
> 
> Abbey


	25. The Shakespeare Code - Ye Olde Asylum

Disclaimer: I have no claim to the Whoverse, as disappointing as that is.

Ch.25: The Shakespeare Code-Ye Olde Asylum

As the sun rose over the horizon, The Doctor, Lily and Martha found themselves sitting in Shakespeare’s room.

“Oh, sweet Dolly Bailey.” The bard said.  “She sat out three bouts of the plague in this place.  We all ran like rats.  But what could have scared her so?” he shook his head.  “She had such enormous spirit.”

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light." The Doctor quoted.

“I might use that.” Shakespeare said, thoughtfully.

“You can’t.” The Doctor told him. “It’s someone else’s.”

Shakespeare shrugged and when he turned his attention to Martha, Lily discreetly smacked The Doctor upside the head.

“But the thing is,” Martha was saying. “Lynley drowned on dry land, Dolly died of fright and they were both connected to you.”

“You’re accusing me?” Shakespeare asked her.

Martha looked shocked. “No, but I saw a witch, big as you like, flying, cackling away, and you’ve written about witches.”

“I have?” He asked, confused. “When was that?”

“You’re a couple of years to early, hon.” Lily told Martha in a low voice.

“Peter Streete spoke of witches.” Shakespeare said suddenly.

“Who’s Peter Streete?” Martha asked him.

“His builder.” Lily answered. She shrugged when they all looked at her. “I was fascinated by the Globe.”

“She right.” Shakespeare said, still staring at her. “He sketched the plans to the Globe.”

“The architect.” The Doctor mumbled. “Hold on.  The architect!  The architect!” He suddenly stood, banging his fists on the table. “The Globe! Come on!”

He took off at a run with Martha and Shakespeare following after him. After a second, Lily too followed with a groan.

* * *

 

Lily was sitting on the edge of the stage swinging her feet back and forth, watching the Doctor as he paced.

“Doctor, what are we looking for?” she sighed.

“The columns there, right?” he said, pointing.  “14 sides.  I’ve always wondered but I never asked... tell me, Will, why 14 sides?”

Shakespeare shrugged. “It was the shape Peter Streete thought best, that’s all.  Said it carried the sound well.”

“Doctor?” Lily said. “Why does that sound familiar?  14?” She shook her head. “It’s like a buzzing in the back of my head. Like I should know it, but I don’t.”

He gave her a thoughtful look.

“I think it’s actually me.” He told her finally. “But you’re right, it does sound familiar. 14…”

“There are 14 lines in a sonnet.” Martha added and the Doctor nodded.

“So there is.  Good point. Words and shapes following the same design.” He began pacing again. _“_ 14 lines, 14 sides, 14 facets…Oh, my head.  Tetra decagon... think, think, think!  Words, letters, numbers, lines!”

“Doctor, you’re giving me a headache.” Lily complained, rubbing her temples. He gave her an apologetic look and quickly threw up some barriers between his mind and hers. Almost immediately her headache let up and she gave him a grateful smile.

“This is just a theater.” Shakespeare said.

The Doctor smiled.

“Oh, but a theatre’s magic, isn’t it? You should know. Stand on this stage, say the right words with the right emphasis at the right time...” he grabbed Lily’s hand and pulled her down to the pit. He lifted her hand and spun her around, making her laugh. “Oh, you can make men weep, or cry with joy, change them. You can change people’s minds just with words in this place. And if you exaggerate that...” he trailed off, but didn’t let go of Lily’s hand.

“It’s like you’re police box.” Martha said, taking Lily’s place at the edge of the stage.  “Small wooden box with all that POWER inside.”

The Doctor and Lily both smiled at her.

“Oh.” He said. “Oh, Martha Jones, I like you.  Tell you what, though.” He turned to Shakespeare.  “Peter Streete would know.  Can I talk to him?”

Shakespeare winced.

“You won’t get an answer.” He told them.  “A month after finishing this place... lost his mind.”

The Doctor and Lily exchanged a look.

“Why?” Martha asked.

“Who knows why anyone loses their mind?” Lily asked her with mock disapproval. “And you call yourself a doctor.” She shook her head and Martha stuck her tongue out at her.

“I just meant, what happened?” Martha clarified.

“Started raving about witches, hearing voices, babbling.” Shakespeare answered. “His mind was addled.”

“Where is he now?” the Doctor asked.

“Bedlam.”

The Doctor felt Lily stiffen next to him when Shakespeare gave his answer.

“What’s Bedlam?” Martha asked, confused.

“Bethlehem Hospital.” Shakespeare told her. “The madhouse.”

Lily shuddered.

“Those who by some miracle, or curse, aren’t insane when they enter, soon are.” She said.

“Well, that’s where we’re going.” The Doctor said, hoping Lily would be alright. “Right now. Come on.”

He led Lily outside and Martha followed.

“Wait!” Shakespeare called after them. “I’m coming with you! I want to witness this first hand.” He ran up to his actors who had just arrived. “Ralph, the last scene as promised.” He said, handing over the script.  “Copy it, hand it round.  Learn it.  Speak it. Back before curtain up.  Remember, kid, project.  Eyes and teeth.  You never know — the Queen might turn up.” He scoffed as he walked out. “As if. She never does.”

* * *

 

Lily stood wrapped in the Doctor’s arms, her face buried in his chest, trying to block out the horror around her.

“Does my lord, Doctor, wish some entertainment while he waits?” the jailer asked with a sick grin.  “I’d whip these madmen. They’ll put on a good show for ya. Bandog and Bedlam!” He rapped a stick on the bars of the nearby cells.

“No, I don’t!” The Doctor said, holding a shaking Lily closer.

The Jailer shrugged. “Wait here, my lords, while I make him decent for the ladies.”

And with that, he walked off.

“So this is what you call a hospital, yeah?” Martha rounded on Shakespeare, utterly disgusted.  “Where the patients are whipped to entertain the gentry?  And you put your friend in here?”

“Oh, and it’s all so different in Freedonia.” He replied, defensively.

“But you’re clever!” She told him.  “Do you honestly think this place is any good?”

Shakespeare sighed.

“I’ve been mad.” He told her.  “I’ve lost my mind.  Fear of this place set me right again.” He shook his head.  “It serves its purpose.”

“Mad in what way?” Martha asked, skeptically.

“You lost your son.” The Doctor answered softly.

Shakespeare looked away. “My only boy.” He told them.  “The Black Death took him.  I wasn’t even there.”

Lily reached out from the Doctor’s arms and put a hand on the poet’s arm.

“I lost my daughter.” She told him softly. Both Shakespeare and Martha starred at her. “I was still carrying her when I was hurt in an attack. I know what it’s like to feel like it was your fault. I also know what it’s like to have those feelings drive you a little bit more than crazy.”

“I didn’t know.” Martha said to both of them. “I’m sorry.”

“It made me question everything.” Shakespeare told them.  “The futility of this fleeting existence.  To be or not to be... oh, that’s quite good.” He said with a thoughtful look.

“You should write that down.” The Doctor winced when Lily hit his stomach.

“Hmm…Maybe not.” Shakespeare replied. “A bit pretentious?”

Lily sighed when the jailer called for them to follow him.

He led them down a corridor of screaming men and women to a dank, tiny, dark cell.

“They can be dangerous, m’lord.” He told them as they entered.  “Don’t know their own strength.”

The Doctor glared at him.

“I think it helps if you don’t whip them. Now get out!” he told him.

The Jailer shrugged and shut the door after him.

The Doctor tried to get Lily to let go, but she just held tighter.

“Lily-girl, it’s ok.” He told her quietly.

She shook her head.

“It’s too much. If I lose focus for one minute, I’ll…” she trailed off.

“You’ll lose control.” He finished, but she shook her head.

“I’ll be like them.” She whispered. “I’ll start screaming and I won’t be able to stop.” She shivered. “The only way I can survive is to bury it all, but something about this place…” she didn’t seem to be able to find the right words.

“It brings it all to the front?” The Doctor asked and she nodded. He sighed and when he tried to remove her hands again, she didn’t fight him. He put his hands on her temples. “Just remember,” he told her. “I’m right here.”

She nodded and let him walk away. Martha silently came up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Lily looked up in surprise and smiled.

“Peter?” The Doctor asked hesitantly as he approached the rocking man. “Peter Streete?”

“He’s the same as he was.” Shakespeare told him. “You’ll get nothing out of him.”

The Doctor ignored him and laid a hand on Peter’s shoulder.

“Peter?” he asked again.

Suddenly, Peter’s head shot up and they could see his glassy eyes. He looked like he was trying to say something but something was stopping him.

The Doctor laid his hands on Peter’s temples just like he had done with Lily a second ago.

“Peter, I’m the Doctor.” He told the man.  “Go into the past, one year ago.  Let your mind go back, back to when everything was fine and shining.” Peter seemed to relax. “Everything that happened in this year since happened to somebody else.  It was just a story.  A winter’s tale.  Let go.  Listen.  That’s it, just let go.” He let Peter lay down on the cot. “Tell me the story, Peter. Tell me about the witches.”

And Peter began to talk.

“Witches spoke to Peter.” He told them.  “In the night, they whispered.  Got Peter to build the Globe to their design. THEIR design!” he seemed adamant that it was their design.  “The 14 walls — always 14.  When the work was done,” he laughed manically, “they sapped poor Peter’s wits.”

“Where did Peter see the witches?” The Doctor asked him softly.  “Where in the city?” He crouched down next to Peter. _“_ Peter, tell me.  You’ve got to tell me where were they?”

“All Hallows Street.” Peter whispered.

Suddenly a hag appeared next to the Doctor. He quickly backed away until he was standing with Lily and Martha.

“What the hell?” Martha shouted.

“Just one touch of the heart.” The hag said as she leaned over Peter. She laid her hand on Peter’s chest and his whole body arched.

“NO!” the Doctor shouted, but it was too late. Peter fell to the ground, dead, while the rest looked on, horrified.

“Witch!” Shakespeare whispered. “I’m seeing a witch.”

“Who would be next, hmm?” The hag cackled. “Just one touch. Oh, oh, I’ll stop your frantic hearts.  Poor, fragile mortals.”

Martha ran to the door.

“Let us out!” She screamed. “Let us out!”

“That’s not gonna work.” The Doctor told her calmly.  “The whole building’s shouting that.”

“Who will die first, hmm?” the hag asked.

“Well if you’re looking for volunteers.” The Doctor said, calmly, as he took a step forward.

Suddenly a golden transparent wall appeared between the Doctor and the hag. His eyes flashed to Lily as the hag took a step back. Her eyes were now more gold then gray.

“What is that?” Martha asked in wonder.

“Doctor, can you stop her?” Shakespeare asked weakly, assuming that the Doctor was producing the shield.

“No mortal has power over me.” The hag spit out.

“Oh, but there’s a power in words.” The Doctor replied.  “If I can find the right one — if I can just know you...” he trailed off, thinking.

“None on Earth has knowledge of us.” She told him.

“Then it’s a good thing I’m here.” He replied, smugly.  “Now think, think, think... Humanoid female, uses shapes and words to channel energy... ah, 14!  That’s it!  14!  The 14 stars of the Rexel planetary configuration!” he pointed a finger at her.  “Creature, I name you Carrionite!”

The Hag wailed and disappeared. A second later, the golden shield dropped.

“What did you do?” Martha asked. “And what was that shield?”

The Doctor moved to Lily’s side, who leaned heavily on him.

“I named her.” He answered, ignoring Martha’s second question.  “The power of a name.  That’s old magic.”

“But there’s no such thing as magic.” Martha said.

“Well, it’s just a different sort of science.” He told her.  “You lot, you chose mathematics.  Given the right string of numbers, the right equation, you can split the atom.  Carrionites use words instead.”

“Use them for what?” Shakespeare asked.

“End of the world.” The Doctor told him. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, Lily and I need to have a conversation.”

He gently gripped her hand and led her out, Martha and Shakespeare following behind.

When they made it out, they found a quiet place and sat down.

“What was that?” The Doctor asked Lily seriously.

She glared at him.

“Dark Phoenix, me,-I was created solely to protect the Doctor.” She told him. _Just because I’ve changed Doctors, doesn’t mean the reason I exist has changed._ She continued silently.

“Is it going to happen again?” he asked her out loud.

“I don’t know.” She replied. “I don’t have much control over it, and frankly I don’t really want to stop it.”

He starred at her.

“Why?” he asked.

“Did you ever stop to think what would happen to me if I lost you?” Lily spat at him. But before he could answer, she continued right on. “Of course not! Did you ever stop to think that you are the only thing I have left? That you are my entire world now. I have nothing but you!” She angrily wiped at a tear that rolled down her cheek.

“Lily…” The Doctor whispered.

“So no,” Lily continued. “If you’re going to continue to take risks, I’m going to continue to protect you when my powers decide you need protecting, and probably even when they don’t think you need it.”

The Doctor was silent for a minute, and then he nodded.

“Ok.” He told her.

She stared at her in shock.

“Ok?” she asked.

He nodded.

“Ok.” She agreed hesitantly. “I’m glad we got that sorted out.”

“Me too.” He replied with a smile.

“Wait.” Shakespeare said. “Lady Lily was the cause of the gold wall?”


	26. The Shakespeare Code - Ye Olde Win

Disclaimer: So I was looking through my documents on my computer, and you’ll never guess what I found. The proof of purchase for Doctor Who. No seriously, it’s right here. Hold on a minute. I know I had it right here. It’s got to be here. No wait, come back! I just had it!

Ch.26: The Shakespeare Code-Ye Olde Win

The group found themselves much subdued and back in Shakespeare’s room.

“The Carrionites disappeared way back at the dawn of the universe.” The Doctor was explaining. Lily was sitting next to him, her head on his shoulder, desperately trying to hold off unconsciousness. “Nobody was sure if they were real or legend.”

“Well, I’m going for real.” Shakespeare said causing Lily to laugh.

“But what do they want?” Martha asked. She tried to reach over to check her friend’s vitals, but Lily waved her off.

“The shield took it out of me.” She told the young doctor. “That’s all. I’m fine.”

Martha nodded but kept a watchful eye on her.

“A new empire on Earth.” The Doctor said, answering Martha’s question.  “A world of bones and blood and witchcraft.”

“But how?” Martha asked.

The Doctor turned and looked at Shakespeare.

“I’m looking at the man with the words.” He answered simply.

Lily and Martha both looked at the poet.

“Me?” Shakespeare said, shocked. “But I’ve done nothing.”

“Hold on, though.” Martha said.  “What were you doing last night, when that Carrionite was in the room?”

“Finishing the play.” Shakespeare told her.

“What happens on the last page?” The Doctor asked.

“The boys get the girls.” Shakespeare told them.  “They have a bit of a dance.  It’s all as funny and thought provoking as usual —“ he broke off. “except those last few lines.  Funny thing is...I don’t actually remember writing them.” He looked confused.

“That’s it.” The Doctor exclaimed.  “They used you.  They gave you the final words. Likea spell, like a code.  'Love’s Labours Won' — it’s a weapon!  The right combination of words, spoken at the right place with the shape of the Globe as an energy converter!  The play’s the thing!” He got a smug look on his face.  “And yes, you can have that.” He told Shakespeare. “OW!”

Lily had slapped him again.

“Stop doing that.” he said, shaking a finger at her.

“Stop giving me a reason.” she replied.

He just shook his head.

“I need a map.”

Shakespeare quickly found one and handed it over.

“All Hallows Street.” The Doctor was pouring over the map. “There it is. Martha, we’ll track down them down. Lily, you and Will get to the Globe. Whatever you do, stop that play.”

Lily nodded and wrapped her arms around the Doctor and hugged him tightly, which he returned.

“Stay safe.” she told him sternly. “I’ll know if you don’t.” She tapped her head.

The Doctor laughed.

“I promise.” he told her, hugging her tightly.

“We’ll do it.” Shakespeare told the Doctor, shaking his hand. “All these years, I’ve been the cleverest man around. Next to you, I know nothing.”

“Oh, don’t complain.” Martha told him.

“I’m not.” Shakespeare replied with a smile. “It’s marvelous! Good luck, Doctor.”

“Good luck, Shakespeare.” he told the bard.   He reached over and squeezed Lily’s hand.

_Be careful, Lily girl._ he told her silently.

She smiled. _I will._ she replied.

“Once more unto the breach!” He said out loud, quickly dancing away from Lily as she swung, and walked out the door.

“I like that.” Shakespeare said thoughtfully. “Wait a minute… That’s one of mine!”

“Oh I give up.” Lily groaned.

* * *

 

Lily and Shakespeare ran through the streets of London.

“Do you think they’ll find what ever the Doctor is looking for?” the Bard called as they ran.

Lily smiled.

“The Doctor always finds what he’s looking for, even when he’s not looking for it.” she called back.

Shakespeare gave a chuckle and they kept running.

They didn’t even slow down when they hit back stage, they just ran straight to the stage. When the hit the curtain Lily faltered, but Shakespeare just kept going.

“Stop the play.” he yelled, barging into the middle of a scene. “I’m sorry ladies and gentlemen, but stop. This performance must end immediately.”

“Everyone’s a critic.” Lily heard one of the actors mutter.

“I’m sorry, you’ll all get a refund.” Shakespeare called over the booing crowd. “But this play must not be performed.”

Lily gasped as he suddenly fell to the floor.

“Is he drunk or what?” an actor whispered.

“Get him off the stage.” another whispered.

Suddenly Lily felt something pulling her, as if dragging her somewhere else. She looked down at her hands to find them glowing gold. Not wanting to have to deal with terrified stage hands as they took Shakespeare off the stage, Lily quickly ducked behind a curtain. A second later, she disappeared in a gold flash.

She reappeared in a disgusting room next to the Doctor. Across from them stood one of the Carrionites. She was pointing and speaking to the Doctor. Lily looked around and saw Martha not moving on the floor.

“Another appears.” the woman, who Lily recognized as the helpful one from the inn, looked confused by Lily’s sudden appearance. “No matter I shall deal with you too.”

“Ah, there’s a problem with that.” Lily pointed out, quickly catching up. “The naming won’t work on me.”

“That’s what I said.” The Doctor said, taking her appearance in stride.

“But your heart grows cold. The north wind blows and carries down the distant…” the witch paused to smile. “Rose.”

The Doctor ground his teeth.

“Oh, big mistake. Cause that name keeps me fighting.” The Doctor spit at her, but the Carrionite had turned her attention to Lily.

“And you, who has no name, what name strikes your heart?” she asked curiously. “Ah, I see, gone too soon, your heart’s dear boon, your dear departed Samantha.”

Lily glared at her.

“You should not dare to speak that name.” she said in a deadly cold voice. “For it might be the last you ever speak.”

“The Carrionites vanished!” The Doctor broke in. “Where did you go?”

The witch glared at him.

“The Eternals found the right words to banish us into the deep darkness.” she told them.

“And how did you escape?” He asked.

“New words.” She replied. “New and glittering, from a mind like no other.”

“Shakespeare.” Lily whispered.

“His son perished.” The Carrionite continued. “The grief of a genius. Grief without measure. Madness enough to allow us entrance.”

“How many of you?” The Doctor asked.

“Just the three.” She again answered without hesitation. It was starting to make Lily nervous. “But the play tonight shall restore the rest.”  She really started to get into it. “Then the human race will be purged as pestilence.  And from this world we will lead the universe back to the old ways of blood and magic.”

“Hmm…Busy schedule…” the Doctor told her, glancing at Lily, then moving to stand right in front of the woman. Lily shadowed him. “But first you got to get through us.”

The Carrionite gave him a seductive smile, causing Lily to audibly gag.

“Oh that should be a pleasure, considering my enemy has such a handsome shape.”

Lily’s hand twitched as the other ran her finger along the Doctor’s face.

_Can’t I just break one of her fingers?_ Lily asked.

_No._

_Just one?_

_No._

_Spoil sport._

“Now,” the Doctor said out loud. “That’s one form of magic that definitely won’t work on me.”

She smiled again.

“Oh we’ll see.”

With that she yanked her hand back and jumped away from them. The Doctor’s hand flew to the side of his head.

“What did you do?” he asked.

She just smiled.

“Souvenir.” She told him.

“Well, give it back!” he yelled.

She threw open her arms and the window shutters banged open. Lily and the Doctor watched, stunned as she flew out and hovered right outside the window.

“Ok that’s just cheating.” Lily groused as they ran to the window.

“Behold.” She called. “Men, to Carrionites, are nothing but puppets.”

She held up what looked to be a doll and wrapped the lock of hair she had stolen from the Doctor around it.

_Oh no._ Lily moaned.

“Now you might call that magic,” the Doctor said, shooting Lily a look. “but I call that a DNA replication module.”

_Doctor, with a direct link like that,_ Lily continued silently, _I can’t protect you. There’s nothing to protect from. She’s using your own DNA to attack you._ She glared at him. _If she kills you, I’m bringing you back to kill you myself._

“What use is your science now?” The Carrionite asked right before she plunged a needle into the dolls heart.

The Doctor let out a cry and fell to the floor, unmoving. Martha, who had awoken in time to see the Doctor fall, ran to his side. Before Lily could attack the Carrionite, she was gone.

“Damn.” Lily cursed, searching the night sky. She looked down at the Doctor. “Martha, you help the Doctor. I’ve got to go help Shakespeare.”

Without sparing a second glance, Lily looked inside for the power that had brought her there, and a second later was gone.

Martha bent to check the Doctor’s vitals.

“Hold on mister,” she rebuked when she heard his heart. “Two hearts?”

The Doctor opened one eye.

“You’re making a habit of this.” He tried to stand, but fell back down with a cry. “I’ve only got one heart working.” He glared at her. “How do you people cope?” He shook his head. “I’ve got to get the other one started. Hit me.”

She gave him a skeptical look.

“Hit me on the chest.” He told her. She complied and he cried out again. “Other side.” She did what he told her to. “On the back. On the back.” She hit him again. “Left a bit.” She hit him one last time. “Ahh, lovely.”

He stood and looked around.

“There we go! Ba-da-boom!” He gave her a look. “Well, what are you standing there for?  Come on! The Globe!”

They took off at a run.

A few streets away, Martha realized that something wasn’t right.

“We’re going the wrong way!” she shouted at him.

The Doctor turned the corner and replied, “No we’re not!”.

A few seconds later, he reversed course and shouted, “We’re going the wrong way!”.

They rounded a corner and saw lights and smoke rising from the Globe.

“I told thee!” The man who had predicted the world would burn told them. “I told thee!”

“Stage door!” The Doctor called, ignoring him.

They ran into to see Lily helping Shakespeare to sit up.

“Stop the play.” He told them. “I think that was it. Yeah, I think I said ‘Stop the play’!”

“I hit my head.” Shakespeare told him.

“Yeah, well don’t rub it.” The Doctor told him sarcastically. “You’ll go bald.”

“Oh, leave him alone.” Lily snapped at him.

The Doctor just glared at her.

“You and I are having a long conversation after this is done.” He told her.

She glared right back.

“Yeah, we are.” She told him. “But I don’t think it’s going to be about what you think it’s going to be.”

Suddenly screams came from the stage.

Lily and The Doctor looked to the stage and then back at each other.

“I think that’s my cue.” He said before running onto the stage, Lily, Martha, and Shakespeare following closely.

Seeing the chaos of the released Carrionites, the Doctor grabbed Shakespeare’s arm and pulled him forward.

“Come on, Will.” He told the Bard. “History needs you!”

Shakespeare looked at him, confused.

“But what can I do?” he asked the Doctor.

“Reverse it!” The Doctor yelled to him.

“How am I supposed to do that?” Will yelled back.

“The shape of the Globe gives words power, but you’re the wordsmith, the one true genius.” The Doctor shouted.  “The only man clever enough to do it!”

“But what words?” he asked. “I have none ready.”

“You’re William Shakespeare!” Lilly yelled. As she said this, a gold wall appeared around them to protect them from flying debris.

“But these Carrionite phrases,” he balked, “they require such precision.”

“Trust yourself.” The Doctor told him.  “When you’re locked away in your room, the words just come, don’t they?  Like magic. Words of the right sound, the right shape, the right rhythm — words that last forever! That’s what you do, Will! You choose perfect words.  Do it.  Improvise!”

Shakespeare nodded and stepped forward.

“Close up this den of hateful, dire decay!” The Poet yelled.  “Decomposition of your witches’ plot!  You thieve my brains, consider me your toy. My doting Doctor tells me I am not!”

“No!” They heard the Carrionites scream. “Words of Power!”

“Foul Carrionite spectres,” Shakespeare continued, “cease your show! Between the points...”

He looked to the Doctor.

“7-6-1-3-9-0” The Doctor told him.

“7-6-1-3-9-0.” Shakespeare repeated. “And banished like a tinker’s cuss, I say to thee...”

He trailed off, unable to think of a final word to banish the Carrionites.

“Expelliarmus!” Martha suddenly shouted.

“Expelliarmus!” The Doctor repeated, while Lily laughed.

“Expelliarmus!” Shakespeare concluded.

And with that last word, the Carrionites became trapped in a wind tunnel, locking them away forever, and with them, every copy of Love’s Labour Won.

“There it goes.” Lily called. As the wind finally dropped, she allowed the shield to drop as well. The moment it was down, she began to sink to the ground, but the Doctor caught her and held her up.

“Thanks.” She whispered. “I think I’m gonna pass out now.”

“You think you can wait for just a few minutes more?” he asked. “I just want to go grab something.”

She nodded and the Doctor handed her off to Martha, who wrapped her arm around Lily’s waist to help her to stand.

“They think it’s special effects?” she asked in wonder at the cheering crowd.

“Your effect is indeed special.” Shakespeare told her.

Lily and Martha starred at him.

“It’s not your best line.” Martha told him as Lily burst out laughing.

Shakespeare shrugged and led them forward to take their bows.

* * *

 

The next morning, the group found themselves back in the Globe.

“And I say, a heart for a hart and a dear for a deer.” Shakespeare was telling Martha a Elizabethan joke, and was currently waiting for her to laugh.

“I don’t get it.” Martha told him causing Lily to burst out laughing from where she was laying on the stage. She was still worn out from the night before and the Doctor had given her instructions to stay put.

“Then give me a joke from Freedonia.” Shakespeare told her, leaning back.

“Ok.” Martha said with a smile. “Shakespeare walks into a pub and the landlord says, ‘oi, mate, you’re bard’.”

Shakespeare laughed while Lily groaned.

“It’s brilliant!” Shakespeare told her. “Doesn’t make sense, mind you, but never mind that.” He leaned forward and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Come here.”

“I’ve only just met you.” Martha told him.

“The Doctor might never kiss you.” He said softly. “Why not entertain a man who will?”

“I don’t know how to tell you this, oh great genius,” Martha said, just as softly. “But you’re breath doesn’t half stink.”

At this moment, The Doctor walked out of the back room wearing a neck ruff and a skull.

“Good prop store back there.” He called.

_You look ridiculous in that thing._ Lily told him, cracking one eye at him.

He just ignored her.

“I’m not sure about this though.” He continued, holding up the skull.

“Ooo! Syxorax!” Lily said, jumping up, but before she could make it far, she doubled over with a groan, grabbing her head.

“I told you to stay still.” The Doctor told her, helping her to sit back down.

“Syxorax.” Shakespeare said. “Nice word. I’ll have that off you as well.”

The Doctor shook his head.

“I should be on 10%.” He said. “How’s your head?” He asked the bard.

“Still aching.” Shakespeare replied.

The Doctor reached up and removed the ruff and handed it to Shakespeare.

“Here, I got this for you.” He told him. “Neck brace.  Wear that for a few days till it’s better, although,” he gave the bard a thoughtful look, “you might wanna keep it. It suits you.”

“If I could stand I would slap you so hard.” Lily called.

“What about the play?” Martha asked.

“Gone.” He told them.  “I looked all over — every single copy of 'Love’s Labours' Won went up in the sky.”

“My lost masterpiece.” Shakespeare said.

“You could always write it up again.” Martha consoled him.

Lily and the Doctor exchanged a look.

“Yeah, maybe not Will.” The Doctor told him. “There’s still power in those words. Maybe it should best be forgotten.”

“Oh, but I’ve got new ideas.” Shakespeare told them.  “Perhaps it’s time I wrote about fathers and sons.  In memory of my boy — my precious Hamnet.”

“Hamnet?” Martha asked.

Lily snorted.

“That’s him.” Shakespeare replied.

“Ham _net_?” Martha asked again.

“What’s wrong with that?” Shakespeare replied.

_Stop that._ The Doctor said to a hysterical Lily, who was rolling on the floor, laughing.

“Anyway,” the Doctor said aloud, “time we were off.” He held up the Carrionite’s crystal. “I’ve got a nice attic in the TARDIS where this lot can scream for all eternity. And we’ve got to get Martha back to Freedonia.”

“You mean travel on in time and space.” Shakespeare told him.

“You…what?” The Doctor sputtered.

“You’re from another world like the Carrionites, as is Lady Lily, and Martha is from the future.” He smiled.  “It’s not hard to work out.”

The Doctor stared at him.

“Did you really believe anyone was going to believe ‘Freedonia’?” Lily asked him softly.

“That’s incredible.” He finally told the other man. “You are incredible.”

“We’re alike in many ways, Doctor.” He turned to Lily standing at the Doctor’s side. “I wish you all the happiness in the universe and a lift from your pain, my Lady Lily.”

Lily smiled and gave him a quick hug.

“And you, my dear Will.”

Shakespeare turned to Martha.

“Martha, let me say goodbye to you in a new verse.  A sonnet for my Dark Lady.  Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate—“

He broke off as one of his actors came running up.

“Will!” he called. “Will! You’ll never believe it! She’s here! She’s turned up!”

“We’re the talk of the town.” Another actor told him.  “She heard about last night! She wants us to perform it again.”

“Who?” Martha asked.

“Her majesty!” The second one told them. “She’s here!”

As he said this, trumpets called out a fanfare and in walked the Queen.

“Queen Elizabeth I!” The Doctor said, sounding giddy as a school boy.

The Queen caught sight of him and froze.

“Doctor!” she yelled.

“What?” he asked, confused.

“My sworn enemy!” she continued.

“What?” Lily asked.

“Off with his head!” Elizabeth yelled to her guards.

“What?” the Doctor asked again.

“Never mind ‘what’,” Martha told him, “just run!” She began pulling Lily and the Doctor to the stage door. “See you, Will!” she called back. “And thanks!”

The three of them ran out the door, guards hot on their heels.

“Stop in the name of the Queen!” they heard one shout as they ran.

“What have you done to piss her off?” Lily shouted as they turned a corner.

“How should I know?” he shouted back. “I haven’t met her yet! That’s time travel for you!”

“Yeah well she used to like me, so I think you should fix whatever it is!” She shouted back.

“Oh, well, something to look forward to then!” The Doctor told her with a grin, which she returned.

They ran straight to the TARDIS and quickly hurried in. Right as the Doctor was about to get in, Lily raised her hand and a gold wall deflected a arrow from hitting the Doctor’s head.

“Thanks.” He said as he closed the door.

“Don’t mention it.” She said moving to collapse on the jump seat.

He smiled and moved to the console.

“Shall we?” he asked.

And with that they disappeared.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Please let me know what you think!
> 
> Abbey


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